The End Is Where We Start From
by loulouflowerpower
Summary: 11/OC-Time Lady. The Doctor and the Hatter have managed to escape Lake Silencio with their lives and reunited themselves with their infant daughter. But with Astra with them, will they be able to balance parenthood and their adventures? How will losing the Ponds affect them? And a new, impossible mystery is looming that is something quite personal for the Hatter to have to solve.
1. Chapter 1 Pond Life

_**Welcome back for the seventh (I'm amazed we've come this far!) instalment of my Doctor Who series. If you are only just stumbling across this story now, I would recommend going back and reading the first six stories, starting from 'Finding The Last Time Lady'. Oh, and I would also like to thank, again, the guest who helped to suggest the title for this story :)**_

 _ **The Hatter is in her Eleventh body, with wavy shoulder length brown hair and pale skin. She's left handed and has an athlete build, standing around 5'11, making her the same height as Amy, but just a tiny bit shorter than the Doctor. She has hazel green, almond shape eyes and a long, slim nose that curves slightly upwards towards the tip, with a small, pointed chin. Her cheek bones are also softer then her previous regeneration. When she smiles, a dimple forms in her right cheek.**_

 _ **Now, the Hatter also has a rather…colourful sense of style, and she is most often seen wearing brightly coloured tights (pink, navy blue, orange, purple…) with bright yellow Orford shoes and a black sued A-line skirt with white buttons running up the front of it. She also wears a bright yellow belt and a bright pink long sleeved top, which she tucks into her skirt, along with a blacker leather jacket and a small silver star brooch pinned to her top. She always wears her wedding and engagement rings, along with her Gallifreyan signet necklace. And, possibly the most important piece of her entire outfit, her pink and black two tone fedora hat.**_

 _ **We also have another OC joining us for this story, though there will be times in which it would be quite unsuitable for her to be involved within a certain chapter or episode, due to her age, and that's the Doctor and the Hatter's baby, Astra Penelope, so there will be times in which she won't be present. Astra is currently a baby within the story and has greenish-blue eyes, which are slowly becoming greener as she gets older, like the Doctor's. She has pale skin and a light covering of brown hair, her features favouring the Hatter's with her a similar nose and chin, but she looks more like the Doctor around her eyes. She also quite likes bowties and hats, and will likely be seen wearing a hat of some sort.**_

 _ **So, I'm sure (If you haven't already just skipped ahead of all of this, my dear readers) that I've bored you all quite enough with these little reminders, so I won't keep babbling on. If you have any questions or certain requests, please feel free to send them to me, either on here or through my Tumblr. I very much hope you enjoy this seventh instalment :)**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to Doctor Who, just my OC Time Lady, the Hatter.**_

 _ **Pond Life**_

…

 **April**

Amy and Rory shook their heads fondly as they stood leaning against the counter in their kitchen, sipping a glass of wine ideally, listening to the latest message that the Doctor and the Hatter had left for them while they had been out. It was becoming a regular thing for the Time Lords to do, once a week they seemed to send them at least one message, half the time the messages not even making sense due to apparently being from a version of the Doctor and the Hatter from their future. Usually, they would end up getting a second message when that happened, usually from the Hatter, telling them to ignore the previous message and that, no, they hadn't just accidently blown up something as it seemed, ending with a cheerful goodbye and shout of 'Spoilers'. It had been a little concerning at first, now it was just amusing.

"Hello, Ponds!" the Doctor's bright, cheerful voice came over the phone speaker as the message began, "Checking in…"

"Again," the Hatter's voice came, sounding like her usual happy self, "Just wanted to make sure everything was okay with you two…" Amy frowned slightly, narrowing her eyes on the phone, "So…how are you?" she laughed slightly as a distant baby coo sounded, "Oh, and Astra says hello, too".

…

 _The Doctor and the Hatter were hurrying through the caves of a volcanic planet that they had landed on, Astra visiting the Time Lady's old companions, Alice and Max for a few hours while the Doctor and the Hatter finished dealing with matters on the planet. The planet was very hot, with puffs of steam shooting up from the rocky ground and cavernous tunnels that they were dashing through, the Doctor carrying a large silver surfboard beneath his arm as they went, throwing quick glances over their shoulders. They reached a metal door, which slide open to reveal a short stone bridge running high above a stream of laver._

" _Oh…" the Hatter breathed a little weakly, looking down over the edge of the bridge to the very hot looking lava beneath them, more then used to ignoring the horrible smell of rotten eggs after having been running around the planet for the past several hours, "That…ah, looks very…hot and deadly"._

 _The Doctor grabbed her hand, lightly tugging her away from the edge and quickly moving across the bridge, personally trying to avoid looking to closely at the lava, "Never mind that, dear," he told her quickly, his eyes focused on the second metal door just ahead of them through the steam, "Come on, the Sontarans are right behind us…"_

" _I told you to take that left turn! We could have lost them ages ago, but no, don't listen to me…"_

" _I always listen to you!"_

 _She scoffed loudly, "It's like when I told you not to let Astra play with your sonic screwdriver last week and she ended up setting fire to the console"._

" _That was…" he winced slightly, clearing his throat as he threw her a quick look over his shoulder, "She wanted to play with it, dear!"_

" _If she wanted to play with a Cyberman, would you let her?"_

" _That's…totally different!"_

" _Hardly"._

 _The second door ahead of them suddenly slid open to reveal three heavily armed Sontarans with their helmets on, obscuring their faces, aiming their weapons on the Time Lords._

 _The Doctor sighed loudly in exasperation, "Really?" he quickly looked back towards the door they had entered through, only to find their path blocked by another three Sontarans, weapons trained of them, too._

 _The Hatter glanced at the Doctor, "I swear, Doctor, if I lose my hat in lava, I will kill you…" she warned him, reaching up to take her hat off, tucking it away inside her jacket pocket._

" _Noted, dear," he flashed her a grin, which made her smile slightly, despite herself, unable to resist. He quickly turned and tossed the surfboard down onto the stream of lava below them, squeezing her hand tightly, "Ready?"_

 _She threw the Sontorans a wary look, not really seeing much choice in the matter, even if she was secretly quite excited about the prospect of having to surf over lava, "Geronimo!" she cried, before she and the Doctor leaped right off the bridge…_

….

"Not much to report," the Doctor said over the speaker, while Amy and Rory continued listening, "We surfed the fire falls of Florinall Nine…"

"I blame the Doctor completely for that," the Hatter added, her tone growing slightly sharper, "Still, I didn't lose my hat in any lava, so I've forgiven him".

Amy and Rory exchanged a brief, amused look.

"You enjoyed that adventure! We got to surf on _lava_!"

Astra gargled something.

"Maybe when you're older, my darling," the Hatter told her, though she didn't sound overly keen about the idea, "But you won't be surfing anything, lava or not, for a very, very long time. _Right_ , Doctor?"

"Right, dear," the Doctor muttered, almost sounding a little afraid to disagree with her, "Anyway…" his tone brightened slightly, "We also met Meta Hari in a Paris hotel room…"

….

 _The Doctor was sitting on the floor in a lavishly decorated Paris hotel room by the open roaring fire, toasting a crumpet on the flames that he had stuck on a poker, waiting for the Hatter to return from the TARDIS to bring back the homemade jam for them to spread over the crumpets. Astra was lying on her playmat a few feet from the fire, sucking on the ear of her teddy, Cyril, while she kicked happily as she stared up at the bright yellow star and silver moon hanging just above her head. The room's door swung open._

" _Ah, finally, dear," he remarked happily, expecting the Hatter as he heard the door close, "What did you do, decide to make the jam yourself…" he trailed off as he turned around, only to a find a woman standing before him that most certainly wasn't his wife, dressed in a big fur coat._

 _The woman smirked at him and suddenly dropped the coat, revealing herself to be completely naked._

 _His eyes widened in shock before he quickly tried covering his eyes, feeling the back of his neck warming as he awkwardly tried to move so that he was blocking the sight from Astra, who had recently learned how to start rolling over…_

 _The hotel room door opened again, "I couldn't find the blackberry jam, sweetheart," the Hatter said as she stepped into the room, looking down at the small jars she was struggling to keep a hold on, each filled with a different flavour jam, "Though, I did find an extra strawberry…" she trailed off, looking up to see a completely naked woman standing before her husband and child, though Astra thankfully couldn't see a thing with the Doctor blocking her view._

" _Um…" the Doctor coughed, peeking out through his fingers, careful to look_ _around_ _the woman, "We've got a visitor, dear"._

" _Yes…" the Hatter nodded slowly, blinking rapidly, quite stunned, "I can see that…_ _lot's_ _of that, in fact…" she cleared her throat and quickly directed her eyes up towards the ceiling, "I'm sorry, madam, but I think you might have the wrong room…"_

….

"What an interesting woman," the Doctor remarked, and Rory and Amy exchanged slightly disbelieving looks. They seriously did get themselves into some of the strangest situations, even without trying.

"Yes, she was, rather," the Hatter agreed thoughtfully, "We had tea, after she put her coat back on, of course. Oh, and apologised for her mistake and complimented me on my taste in hats, given that her father had made hats. She even offered to teach me a few dance moves, but the Doctor blushed so badly, I was a little concerned he might faint".

He cleared his throat loudly, while Amy smirked slightly at the mental image, "I laid down some backing vocals…" he said a little quickly, obviously trying to move on from the subject.

….

 _The Hatter smiled fondly, shaking her head in amusement as she sat on a sofa in the middle of the recording studio in Hollywood, watching through the glass as the Doctor, very enthusiastically, tried rapping along with the steady beat of a song in one of the recording booths, wearing an American baseball cap backwards on his head, because he thought that it made him look, 'Cool'. The Hatter hadn't had the heart to tell him how wrong he was about that._

 _Astra thought it was great, however, sitting on the Time Lady's lap as she allowed the Hatter to lightly bounce her in beat with the music, her eyes fixed on her father with a wide, toothless grin on her chubby face, her teddy disregarded on the floor, for once._

" _You are so your father's daughter," she muttered, leaning down to place a kiss on top of Astra's head, her hair finally starting to get thicker._

….

"We should be with you any day now," the Doctor continued brightly, "Literally any day".

"Sadly, the Helmic Regulator's been playing up," the Hatter added, sighing warily, "We've been trying to fix it, the temporal steering's all off…"

"Oh, dear…" he suddenly cut in, just as the Time Lady groaned loudly, "We appear to have collided with ancient Greece..." there was a sudden noise of something exploding, followed by him yelling in alarm.

"Got to go, Amy and Rory!" the Time Lady shouted over all the background noise, which made it sound as if they were crashing, Astra's cries sounding, "Bye! I'm so sorry, my darling, everything's going to be just fine…!"

The message cut off, leaving Rory and Amy staring at the phone, shaking their heads, not worried in the slightest. How many times had something like this happened? Four…five? No, six, it had to be the sixth time.

Amy looked across the counter to her husband, lifting her wine class up as he did the same, "The Doctor and the Hatter," she toasted, drinking to them.

 **May**

It was the middle of the night and Amy and Rory were fast asleep, tucked up in bed, when the sound of the TARDIS engines wheezed throughout the house. The couple shifted slightly in their sleep, but didn't wake as the noise of thundering footsteps came from outside the bedroom door, moving rapidly up the stairs, before the bedroom door was suddenly thrown open by the Doctor, waking the couple with a startled gasp, just as the Hatter appeared right behind the Doctor.

"Argh!" the Doctor yelped, quickly covering his eyes, "Stop everything!"

The Hatter rolled her eyes, lightly nudging his side, "They were only sleeping, sweetheart," she told him, grabbing his arm and gently lowering it from his eyes, casting the humans still in bed a slightly sheepish smile, "Ah…sorry about waking you, but it's very important…"

"What's going on?" Rory gasped, his eyes wide with panic, though he still looked half-asleep.

"Doctor!" Amy huffed, squinting slightly and grabbing the blanket, trying to cover herself, "Hatter! Bedroom!"

"We have a rule about the bedroom!"

Amy paused, frowning slightly as she seemed to see clearly enough, "And where's Astra?"

"Oh, Sarah Jane's looking after her," the Hatter shook her head, waving a dismissive hand, "It's far too dangerous for her to be with us right now…"

"Which reminds me…" the Doctor cut in, looking very seriously at Rory and Amy, ignoring their annoyance, "No one on this planet is safe right now. We have to solve this _before_ it's too late. Get your clothes on!" the Hatter frowned slightly, eyeing the blank expressions on Amy and Rory's faces as he continued, "If we move fast, we at least stand a chance…"

"Um, sweetheart?" the Time Lady touched his arm, smiling faintly as he stopped, glancing back to her, "I don't think they have a clue what you're talking about," she looked back to the humans, raising an eyebrow, "Right?"

"Right," Amy and Rory said in unison, Rory yawning as Amy shook her head.

"Oh, I hate it when this happens…" she sighed tiredly, looking back to the Doctor, who was pouting, "We seriously _need_ to fix that Helmic regulator. It's all your fault it's broken in the first place," she looked back to the humans, "He let Astra play the sonic screwdriver, the _real_ one, which then led to a small fire and minor but very disruptive damage to the Helmic Regulator".

The Doctor nodded, closing her eyes tightly as he did so, having heard her say the same thing at least eight times. Perhaps it had been a bit unwise to let Astra play with the sonic screwdriver, but she had giggled and smiled so adorably that he just couldn't help himself. He wouldn't be making that mistake again…not with the Hatter around, anyway.

"Yes, I know, I know," he said, opening his eyes and looking back to Amy and Rory, "The point is that we're too early. Wrong point. As you were!" he grabbed the Hatter's hand and moved to leave the bedroom.

"So sorry about waking you again!" the Hatter added over her shoulder, flashing them a quick smile.

"Hang on, you two!" Amy called after them, frowning, "You can't just go like that. What's happening? Don't we need to know?"

The Doctor and the Hatter appeared back in the doorway, the Doctor moving to perch himself on the end of the bed, while the Time Lady leaned against the doorframe.

"Oh, we've just got your timeline a little wrong," the Hatter smiled at them, shrugging slightly, "Wouldn't be the first time we've done that, nothing to be concerned about".

"Forget we were ever here," the Doctor told them, sighing slightly, "We'll be back soon enough, I would have thought. Everything's fine…" he assured them, pausing, "…pretty much"

The Time Lady gave him a quick look, moving out of the doorway to grab his arm and lightly tug him up, "Everything's just great," she said with a pointed look in his direction, "The future is…well…" she bit her lip, thinking about everything they had done, the Daleks and the dinosaurs on a spaceship, all of those funny little, dangerous cubes that had littered the Earth, Astra's teething…She fixed a smile onto her face, giving Amy and Rory a quick thumbs-up, "…safe," she finished brightly.

"Really, really, _safe_ ," the Doctor nodded, slowly backing back towards the door with the Hatter, his mind racing with the memories of the last few months, his expression anything but comforting as Amy and Rory stared at them, not believing them for a second, "Sleep well," he whispered, slowly closing the door behind himself and the Hatter.

Amy and Rory fell back onto their pillows, staring up at the ceiling as the sound of the TARDIS dematerializing sounded downstairs, neither of them feeling very much like sleeping after that less then reassuring little visit from the Time Lords.

"I really hate it when they do that," Rory sighed, his arms folded on his chest.

"River's right," Amy muttered, shaking her head, "They really are hard work".

 **June**

Rory left the bedroom as the bright morning sun shone through the window, yawning as he wrapped his dressing gown tighter around his waist as he walked down the hallway in his slippers, heading for the bathroom. He reached the door and pulled it open, stepping inside…only to give a loud yelp of surprise.

"Whoa!" he practically ran out of the bathroom, slamming the door behind him, his eyes wide with shock. He slowly reached up with his hands to rub his face, trying to figure out if this was just a very vivid dream…or nightmare, before lowering his hands and giving himself a little shake. Slowly, he turned back towards the bathroom door and hesitantly pulled the door open, peering inside, hoping for it to be gone…oh, how he was wrong. He popped back out into the hallway, only to find Amy walking towards him in her pink dressing gown, and quickly tried to block her way to the door.

"Out of the way, Mister Pond," Amy told him as she reached him, but Rory quickly closed his mouth and shook his head. She frowned, confused, "What?" he only shook his head harder, "Why not?"

He hesitated, tilting his head, considering it, before deciding that trying to ignore it wasn't going to help get rid of it. He moved back slightly and grabbed the door handle, pulling it open as he looked back to watch Amy as she moved into the bathroom, only to stumble backwards slightly at the sight of an Ood sitting on the toilet, just…sitting there, casually.

The Ood looked calmly up to them, "May I be of assistance?" it asked, its orb lighting up as it spoke.

"Ood on the loo," Rory commented quietly.

"Yeah…" Amy nodded slowly, trying to give the Ood an awkward smile.

 **July**

"Ood!" the Doctor called over the answering machine, while Amy and Rory sat at the kitchen dining table, eating breakfast. It had taken them a whole month to finally get a reply back from the Time Lords about the Ood they had found in their bathroom and over the past month they had just tried to get used to having an Ood around, making sure that all the front curtains were closed and that the Ood was out of sight, "Yes, I was wondering where he'd got to," he continued thoughtfully, "I thought he'd just gone for a walk in the TARDIS".

Amy glanced at Rory to see him busy looking over towards the phone, reaching out with her fork to steal one of his sausages off his plate while he was distracted, quickly taking a bite of it, just as he looked back and frowned slightly, glancing down at his plate.

"He must have had enough of Astra constantly trying to grab at his tentacles," the Hatter commented, sounding distracted, as if she was working on something else while speaking, "Not that I blame him for wondering off, it doesn't matter how many times you tell a six month old baby to be gentle, they'll still yank very hard and rather painfully".

"Yes, she's taken to pulling on my bowtie, recently," the Doctor agreed, "She almost strangled me the other day…but never mind that!" he suddenly brightened, just as Rory looked back across to Amy, narrowing his eyes suspiciously as she simply shrugged innocently, "The Ood must have wondered off when we popped in the other night. If it _was_ the other night…"

"Or was it last week?" the Time Lady said, a frown in her voice, just as she sighed loudly, "Yes, my darling, I know you find my necklace to be very pretty and enjoy sticking it in your mouth, but mummy and daddy are a little busy right now. Yes, that's a good girl, play with your star chart…."

"You know," the Doctor began as Rory pulled a face at Amy, not buying her innocent act for a second, "We resecured that Ood from the middle of the Androvax conflict. We were taking him back to the Ood Sphere. Anyway, he's not being a nuisance, is he?"

Amy and Rory looked at each other, thinking about the past month. They wouldn't exactly call it a nuisance…no, in fact, the Ood had proven to be most useful, making them both a packed lunch for when they went to work, like they were school kids, doing the laundry, making the bed, pretty much every single household task. It had been nice at first…but now they just felt awkward about the whole thing. It felt like they had a slave doing everything for them, considering that the Ood didn't seem to want for anything in return.

Rory pushed back his chair and moved to pick up the phone receiver, not wanting the Ood to overhear, "He, um, seems to think he's our butler," he told them uncomfortably.

"Yes, he would," the Hatter said with a small sigh on the other end of the phone, "He's been conditioned to serve, Rory, and as uncomfortable as I'm sure it probably is for you and Amy, just let him do it".

"We'll come and pick him up tonight," the Doctor added, before sounding as if he was frowning, "Whenever tonight is…" suddenly, an alarm began going off in the background, making Rory wince slightly, "Oh, no!" he exclaimed, "Got to go!"

"It's okay, Astra," the Hatter said loudly over the alarm as Astra's cry sounded, groaning, "I'm sorry, Rory, but we seriously do have to cut this conversation short. Somehow the Doctor fiddled with something he shouldn't and now there's a power drain on the TARDIS that could very well cause the TARDIS to explode unless we do something!" she paused, adding, "Not to sound dramatic or anything, but that would be very, very bad".

"I didn't do anything, Hatter!" the Doctor's voice came, sounding as if he had moved away from the speaker now, "Oh, why's it doing that? No, no, no, no, no, no, don't do that!"

Rory lowered the receiver from his ear, staring down at it in mild alarm as the call ended with the alarm blaring and Astra crying in distress, the Doctor still shouting and the Hatter muttering a quick, 'Bye,' before hanging up. He shook his head and put the receiver back on the cradle, before moving back to sit at the table, just as the Ood appeared with two tea cups and wearing an apron around its waist.

"Your infusions," the Ood told them as it sat their teacups down beside their plates, which they picked up. It straightened, holding the communication orb in its hand, "How else may I be of service?"

"I feel so guilty," Rory leaned across to the table to Amy.

"Just eat your breakfast," Amy said quietly.

They both took a sip from their cups and looked back up to the Ood, giving it an awkward smile.

 **August**

The TARDIS was parked outside Amy and Rory's house on a drizzly day, the Doctor standing on top of a wooden ladder as he changed the light bulb on top of the time machine with one hand, while the other hand held a red phone against his ear, which was connected from within the time machines closed doors. The Hatter was standing on the footpath at the foot of the ladder, six and a half old Astra held on her hip with a little yellow raincoat and hat on, watching the Doctor above them, Astra with interest and the Hatter in concern that he might end up toppling off the ladder at any moment.

"Hello, Ponds!" the Doctor called cheerfully over the phone, fiddling with the bulb, "Us again…well, me, but the Hatter is here, so…"

"Hello, Amy and Rory!" the Hatter said loudly as the Doctor paused to hold the receiver down towards her so that she had a chance to greet them. Astra gargled something, too, "Oh, and Astra says that she misses you…well, actually, she didn't refer to you by name, she called you Fire Hair and Squishy Face, but it still counts, right?"

The Doctor laughed, shaking his head fondly as he pressed the receiver back up to his ear, "Sorry about the gaps in communications," he said into the phone, "We dropped your Ood back home. Reconnected it to the hive," he finished putting the new bulb in and carefully began to climb back down the ladder, hopping back down on the footpath beside the Hatter, "Helmic Regulator's still not working".

"Yes, but we did manage to fix it before it broke again," the Time Lady cut in, shaking her head as she leaned closer to the Doctor to speak into the phone, "We went to the Battle of Hastings and an arrow somehow managed to hit the console…don't ask. Oh, and we also rode a horse through eleventh century Conventry. That was…interesting".

"Also, I think I might have accidently invented pasta…" he muttered with a small smile in the Hatter's direction, who shook her head at him.

She left him and Astra in a tiny hut with a nice Chinse man for ten minutes, only to come back and find that he had managed to make noodles. His excuse was that Astra was hungry and that he wanted her to try something new, since they had began considering starting Astra on some mushy, soft foods, but pasta really wouldn't have been the Hatter's first choice, especially not when pasta wasn't meant to be invented for another fifty years.

"You two are okay, aren't you?" she asked over the phone, frowning slightly as her previous lightness faded, throwing a quick look back over towards Amy and Rory's house. They had tried the door when they had arrived, but nothing, "We tried ringing your doorbell, but you don't seem to be home…"

"Which is fine," the Doctor said a little too quickly, looking at the Hatter as he spoke, "Everything's alright, isn't it, with you two?" he shook his head at himself, "Of course it is. Ponds, always fine. Just…worrying unnecessarily," he cleared his throat, fixing a bright smile onto his face, "Anyway, just call us if you need us. Okay?"

The Hatter took the phone from him, forcing herself to sound happy, "See you guys later!" she said before ending the call, handing it back to the Doctor with a small frown crossing her face.

The Doctor took the receiver back and eyed it for a moment, before sighing heavily and reaching into his pocket, pulling his sonic screwdriver back out, flashing it at the phone, deleting the message as Astra squealed in delight at the sight of the sonic screwdriver. He smiled at his daughter softly, before looking back to the Hatter, his expression growing grim.

"We're too early, aren't we?" he said tiredly, having a feeling he knew just why he couldn't get hold of Amy and Rory right now. If he was right…well, they really weren't doing okay, not at all.

"I think so," she nodded, meeting his eyes again, "I just wish Amy had listened to me, so much could have been different…" she sighed sadly, thinking back to that promise Amy had forced her to make back at Christmas all those months ago, the promise that she had even had to keep from the Doctor. She shook her head and turned back to the TARDIS, pushing it open and disappearing inside the console room with Astra.

The Doctor swallowed, his eyes lingering on Amy and Rory's house before he grabbed the ladder and followed behind her. Things would be okay in the end, but there was still a long road ahead of Amy and Rory before they would reach that point.

…

Amy returned home, trying hard to resist the lump in her throat as she walked into her kitchen, looking around briefly. The house felt so empty now, so painfully empty without Rory, but she knew it had been for the best…it had to be. She dropped her handbag and keys on the kitchen table and moved across to check the phone, feeling her heart sinking when she realised that she didn't have any new messages.

"We need you, Raggedy Man, Shabby Hatter," she breathed, looking up towards the ceiling, " _I_ need you".

 _ **So quickly, it's important for you to note that all the events involving the Doctor and the Hatter are taking place in the future of the story, so when the next chapter kicks off, Astra will still only be about three, four months old and not six and a half months, but for Rory and Amy it will run normally, since we were following their timeline through this chapter and not the Doctor and the Hatter's. I hope that makes sense, think of it as a little glimpse into future Doctor and Hatter, and Astra.**_

 _ **So, the Hatter was forced to make a promise to Amy about something that she didn't agree with. I will say that I plan to do a one-shot about what it is…when I get the chance to do that, of course. I'm trying to finish off writing something that I was requested to do by a guest review, which is about what would have happened if Nine, Eleven, or Twelve had found the Hatter instead of Ten.**_

 _ **I hope you guys liked the first chapter, tell me what you thought. Please review :)**_


	2. Chapter 2 Asylum of the Daleks, Part 1

_**Asylum of the Daleks, Part 1**_

"Skaro?" Sarah Jane gasped, her eyes widening in horror as she held Astra in her arms, the baby not looking very pleased.

"I'm afraid so, yes," the Hatter nodded, her face pale as she kept a hold on Astra's hand, running her thumb gently over Astra's knuckles. She felt sick just thinking about that horrible place and she could tell that Sarah felt the same way, after all, she had been there too, on the day that the Daleks had first been created into the monsters that they knew today, right at the very start. She took a deep breath, swallowing hard, "Which is why you will understand why we can't take Astra with us, not to that place," she said firmly, meeting her eyes, "Astra will never set foot on that planet, not while I have any say".

She tightened her hold on Astra, "I'll take care of her," she assured her, and the Time Lady smiled faintly, feeling a small spark of relief, "But…be careful. _Both_ of you," she looked between the brunet and the Doctor, who was still standing by the open TARDIS doors.

"We're just going to investigate," the Doctor told her, trying hard to seem as if he wasn't worried, when he was, so _very_ worried. He didn't like being sent a message in his dreams from a mysterious person, let alone that he was being summoned to meet on Skaro, with his wife. Being summoned, in his past experience, never tended to end very well…okay, so maybe it could have some benefits, like meeting Romana, but he still didn't like anyone who had enough power to be able to do something like that. As for the whole Skaro part…was there a single planet in the Universe that he hated more than that place? Probably not.

The Hatter sighed, glancing back over to him, "That's the idea, it doesn't mean that's how it's going to turn out," she said softly, her expression grim as she turned back to Sarah and Astra, "Goodbye, my darling," she forced herself to smile, lifting Astra's hand up to her face, kissing it gently, "We'll be home soon, I promise".

Astra gave her an annoyed look and waved her arm roughly.

"I know you want to come," she said gently, "But the place we're going…" she paused, taking a deep breath, "You're just going to have to trust us, Astra, and know that we're doing what's best for you".

The Doctor moved to her side, leaning down to quickly kiss Astra's head, "Trust us, my little star," he whispered to her, lightly touching her cheek as he straightened and reached out to take the Hatter's hand, "We should be going," he looked at the Hatter.

The Hatter swallowed and gave a small, stiff nod, wanting more than anything to take Astra back into her arms and fly off into the Time Vortex, ignoring this summons completely and staying as far away from Skaro as possible. So much had happened on that planet, so many terrible things; she had even had a companion who died on that planet, April Jones, so returning to that place now…it made her ill to imagine having to breathe that air in once more, but they had to go. Someone had worked very hard to get in contact with them and they needed to figure out _why_.

"Astra," she looked back to the baby, drinking Astra's face in, just in case anything happened. They were going to Skaro, anything was possible, "We love you so much. Now, you be a good girl for Auntie Sarah and share with Sky, and we'll be back soon".

"Thank you, Sarah," the Doctor gave Sarah Jane a small smile, reaching out to touch her arm, so grateful that they could have friends who would be willing to babysit for them. He squeezed the Hatter's hand and gave her a small tug back towards the TARDIS, knowing how difficult it was for her to have to leave Astra behind when they went off on an adventure, but it was Astra's safety. They couldn't be selfish when it came to that.

"Goodbye, you two," the Hatter wiggled her fingers quickly at Sarah and Astra, Astra still looking quite grumpy about being left behind, before she and the Doctor stepped back into the TARDIS, dashing up to the controls, setting off.

They moved around the controls at a far slower pace than they usually would have, trying to drag out arriving as long as they possibly could, but far too soon the TARDIS landed with a gentle thump and the Doctor pulled the handbrake. Silence filled the room as they looked at one another, their faces pale and grim, dreading opening those doors.

"I don't suppose we could just…not go outside?" the Hatter suggested weakly, raising an eyebrow.

He sighed, reaching out to take her hand, lifting it up to place a lingering kiss on her knuckles before lowering his arm, though he still kept his fingers entwined with hers, "I would love to do nothing more, dear…"

"Nothing more?" she said teasingly, stepping closer to him, looking through her eyelashes to him as a smirk crossed her face, "You seriously couldn't think of _anything_ else, sweetheart?"

"Hatter…" he blinked slowly, visibly swallowing, tensing slightly, trying so very hard to resist against the urge to kiss her right now.

"Well, how long has it been since we had a _whole_ TARDIS just to ourselves?"

"Hatter….believe me, nothing is more tempting in the whole Universe, but…"

She took a small step back from him, though she was still smirking, "Oh, you are so easy to get all hot and bothered," she laughed, shaking her head, "I was only teasing you, sweetheart. Honestly".

The Doctor's mouth fell open, staring at her in disbelief, "You mean that was just _teasing_?" he exclaimed, his voice sounding quite strangled and high.

"Of course," she grinned, pressing a quick, fleeting kiss to his cheek, "I was trying to lighten the mood…though, apparently, I might have over done things a little bit. I haven't had much of a chance to tease you lately".

"Believe me, dear, you're not out of practice".

She laughed again, reaching up to her three hand to pat his cheek, "Oh, my adorable idiot," she shook head fondly, "Now, with our, or rather _my_ mood lightened, shall we step outside into hell? Personally, I think one should always wear a smile when they step into hell, where's the fun in being all grim faced and solemn in a serious situation?"

The Doctor smiled gently and forced himself to start to move down the stairs and across to the TARDIS doors with the Time Lady right on his heels, wishing that they could just stay in the time machine and continue their flirting banter. He loved Astra, she and the Hatter meant the Universe to him, he would do anything for them, but he had to admit that since they had brought Astra home, things had changed a little bit. They couldn't flirt as shamelessly as they used to when it was just them, plus they also had to keep some…boundaries about other things that he could already feel were starting to make his neck feel very warm just thinking about. But in the rare moments when it was just them, well, nothing had changed, they still flirted like in the old days, still teased one another. Still, it was nice to be able to do it now without having to be mindful of Astra being in the room.

He pushed the door open and carefully peered outside, before stepping out fully with the Hatter, who carefully closed the door behind her. The room they had landed in was very dark and gloomy, the only real light coming in through the holes in the walls around them, but from what little that they could see of the space, everything seemed to be very old and made of metal, which all appeared to be very rusted as the sound of rain pouring down outside, hitting the metal ceiling above them, sounded loudly through the room.

"First, there were the Daleks…" a woman's voice came, and the Doctor and the Hatter slowly moved through the shadows, finding a figure in a long, hooded cloak standing before a rounded window in the shape of a Dalek eyestalk, her back to them and her hood pulled up, "And then, there was a man and woman who fought them, together and apart. And then, in time, they both died. There are a few, of course, who believe this man and woman somehow survived, and that one day they will return. For both our sakes, dearest Hannah, we must hope these stories are true…" she broke off suddenly and turned towards the Time Lords, hearing their footsteps crunching on the plant matter covering the floor of the room.

"We got your message," the Doctor told the figure, stepping out of the shadows with the Hatter, watching the woman beneath the hood carefully for any signs of hostility. Her face was only just visible beneath the hood, showing a woman of seemingly middle age with straight red hair, wearing a pair of very high heeled boots that seemed like they would be completely impractical for fighting…intimidation, however…, "Not many people can do that," he continued, eyeing her, "Send us messages".

"Especially lately," the Hatter added with a deep frown, thinking about their faked deaths. No one should have been able to get them a message, only a select few people even knew that they were _still_ alive, but if word had got out somewhere, then that would be very, _very_ bad. Everything they had done to try and make people believe that they were dead would have been for nothing; the Ganger Doctor's sacrifice would have been for _nothing_. And if word truly was out…that meant that Astra's safety would once again be threatened, just like last time, and that was something she and the Doctor couldn't allow to happen.

They weren't so naive to think that Astra would have a peaceful, carefree life like most other children would have, being their daughter she now had every single one of their enemies without any of the defences, but they could shield her from the true horrors of the Universe for as long as possible. Astra was barely four months old right now and yet, she had more enemies in the Universe than any other child had ever had, it was a terrible thought for the Hatter to have to admit to herself, something that kept her up at night and made her wonder if they should have ever have forced an innocent child into that situation, but it was a fact and just a part of Astra's life, and as her parents, the Doctor and the Hatter would do whatever they could to ensure that Astra had the childhood that they never had, safe and protected, shielded for as long as possible.

"I have a daughter," the woman said quickly, her name Darla, as they recalled from the dream, looking between them, swallowing hard. The Doctor and the Hatter both tensed, listening intently, "Hannah. She's in a Dalek prison camp. They say you can help".

"Do they?" the Doctor frowned, his eyes flickering over to the Hatter, who was struggling to keep her expression clear of emotions. They couldn't allow their own emotions to blind them right now, not when there was still the chance that this could be a trap, but the idea of a young girl being imprisoned in one of those camps…it hit home for them both. Far too close to home. If this truly was a trap, then someone had done their homework and seemed to be trying _very_ hard to tug on their heartstrings. He gave himself a sharp shake, forcing himself to focus, "I wish they'd stop," he muttered quietly, thinking about Astra.

"I'm sorry for your daughter," the Hatter said sincerely, though she was still regarding the woman carefully, refusing to let herself let her guard down. She felt her hearts go out to the woman, feeling truly saddened and compassion for her loss, but until they knew for certain that this wasn't just a trap, she couldn't let herself feel too deeply. It was horrible to have to be so mistrustful, but anything to do with the Daleks and Skaro was best to be taken very carefully, and she had made a promise to Astra that they would return to her soon. She wasn't about to break that promise by getting herself killed by letting her guard down.

She and the Doctor moved passed Darla, looking out through the window of the mostly destroyed buildings littering the planet's surface, crumbled and slowly turning to dust as time and acid rain poured down upon it. Skaro hadn't been inhabited in centuries, by the looks of it, not even the Daleks had returned to their home world. It was mostly herself and the Doctor's doing, they had tried to destroy the planet centuries ago, well before the Time War had even begun, but the planet had managed to survive, at least partly, just like the Dalek's always seemed to do. That day was the day when the Time War first begun, they just hadn't even realised until it was too late.

"You've picked a lovely location to host this little meeting," the Time Lady commented grimly, her eyes roaming over the barren wasteland of a world far below the building they stood in.

"They said I'd have to intrigue you," Darla replied, watching them.

"Skaro," the Doctor sighed, looking out over the crumbling city below them, "The original planet of the Daleks…" his expression grew darker, "Look at the state of it".

The Hatter squeezed his hand reassuringly, dragging her eyes away from the window, unable to stand the sight any longer to look back over to Darla, "You keep mentioning this mysterious 'they,'" she frowned, eyeing her, "Just who are _they_?"

"Does it matter?"

The Doctor exchanged a quick look with the Hatter, both agreeing that it did matter, quite a bit, actually, depending on just who had that sort of information to begin with, but they weren't about to give that away right now, "Maybe not," he said lightly, walking slowly closer to her, "But you're very well informed," he reached out and pulled her hood down, wanting to see her face properly, her eyes specifically.

"Your daughter is in a Dalek prison camp," the Time Lady said thoughtfully as the Doctor released her hand, moving away, but she remained before Darla, her eyes fixed on hers, "But what I don't understand is why you're not with her? You're her mother; surely you were with her when she was captured?"

"I escaped," Darla answered.

The Doctor and the Hatter scoffed, exchanging a disbelieving look, "No," he shook his head, turning back to Darla, "Nobody escapes the Dalek camps".

The Time Lady narrowed her eyes on Darla, "Are you feeling quite alright?" she asked her, making the woman blink slightly, "You're very pale," she reached out and took the woman's hand, "And your skin, it's as cold as ice…" she suddenly dropped Darla's hand and took a large step back from her, looking quickly back over to the Doctor, who meet her eyes and nodded, quickly looking around as he reached out to take the brunet's hand again.

"What's wrong?" Darla questioned, looking between them in concern, seeing their suddenly alarmed expressions.

"It's a trap," the Doctor frowned, edging closer to the Hatter as they both backed further away from Darla.

"What is?"

"You are," the Hatter told her, looking back to her, almost sadly, "You're the trap, the honey to lure us here, and you don't even know it".

They continued to move further away from her, when Darla stopped and suddenly gave a funny little twitch of her head, her expression going completely blank, just as a Dalek eyestalk suddenly shot out through her forehead. She raised her arm with her palm open at them and a Dalek's laser gun extended from her hand, firing a bright blue light. The Doctor and the Hatter cried out in pain as they were blasted backwards onto the floor, slipping into unconsciousness.

…

The Hatter forced herself to remain calm as she followed just a step behind the Doctor as they were being led through the hallways of a Dalek ship, one Dalek up ahead of the Doctor, leading the way, while another followed directly behind her, preventing them from any chance of escape. It had been quite a horrible way to wake up to find themselves on the floor of a Dalek holding cell, surrounded by Daleks, but it only got worse as they were soon informed that their companions, Rory and Amy, had also been 'acquired'. The only small comfort to the Hatter had been that she still had her hat, though she knew she was only clinging to that tiny bit of good luck because of just how bad this situation was turning out to be. She always did feel better with her hat.

They were led through the ship until they turned a corner and neared a plain white door.

"…how much trouble are we in?" Rory's voice sounded from behind the door, just as it slide open to reveal a stark white circular room, so white that it was almost blinding, with only one small barred window on the wall that showed thousands of other Dalek ships outside in space, zooming about. Amy and Rory where standing by the window, looking out, Amy appearing to be wearing quite a bit of eye makeup and a number of cocktail rings. Both her and Rory seemed to be missing their wedding rings, much to the Hatter's concern, though she wasn't entirely surprised.

"How much trouble, Mister Pond?" the Doctor called as he followed behind the first Dalek, making Amy and Rory turn to see him step into the room with the Hatter coming to stand right behind him, the second Dalek trailing into the room, just as the door closed shut behind them, "Out of ten?" he gave them a very serious look, "Eleven".

The Hatter smiled faintly, glancing at him, "You've been waiting to have a chance to say that, haven't you?"

He blushed faintly, ruining his attempt to look serious, "Oh, shut up, you," he muttered, throwing her a fond look.

She smirked, "Never going to happen, sweetheart," she looked back to the humans, "Hello, Amy and Rory!" she said brightly, more than happy to try and act as if they weren't on a Dalek ship, surrounded by their worst enemy, "Good to see you, shame it couldn't have been somewhere a bit nicer…" she shrugged carelessly, or at least tried to come off as being careless.

There was a loud humming noise that came from above their heads, making them all quickly look up towards the white ceiling to see it spinning around rapidly in a circle, before breaking into sections and disappearing. The Doctor and the Hatter moved closer to each other, exchanging a nervous look as they felt the floor beneath their feet starting to rise upwards, bringing them to a stop in the middle of a massive rounded room with a huge glass dome covering the roof, surrounded by millions of Daleks of every different model and era.

They stared around in shock at the sheer number of Daleks around them, before slowly looking across to where a pedestal sat up on a slightly raised incline at the front of the room. On the pedestal sat a glass tube, within which held a flesh coloured mutant Dalek, while a white Dalek seemed to be standing guard close to it. The TARDIS had been brought into the room, too, standing only a few feet away from them, but they would never reach it before being killed. They were completely trapped, well and truly surrounded this time as they stood directly in the middle of the auditorium-like room.

"Where are we?" Amy breathed, turning quickly to the Doctor and the Hatter, "A spaceship, right?"

"Not just any spaceship," the Hatter said softly, swallowing hard as she looked up towards the pedestal, her face very pale, "This is the Parliament of the Daleks…"

Amy's eyes widened, while Rory closed his eyes briefly. The Hatter reached out her free hand that wasn't entwined with the Doctor's, giving them both a quick pat on their arms, trying to reassuring them.

"Be brave," the Doctor told them, sighing.

"What do we do?" Amy asked quickly.

"Make them remember you," he replied grimly, before turning to looking around at the rest of the room, seeing that not one of the Daleks had made a move towards them yet, "Well, come on, then!" he called as he and the Hatter slowly walked closer to the bottom on the incline, looking around at them all, "You've got us. What are you waiting for?" he held his arm out, "At long last, it's Christmas!" they turned around on the spot, waiting for them to attack, to kill them, "Here we are!"

The Hatter gave Amy and Rory one last sad smile as she and the Doctor closed their eyes, tightening their hold on each other's hands, waiting for every single Dalek within the room to start shooting at them. The Hatter thought of Astra, pictured her face with her bright, curious eyes, growing greener with each day that passed and her toothless smile. She had thought that they would be able to raise Astra after they had escaped Lake Silencio, but she had been wrong, and now here they were, about to die…

"Save us," the mutant Dalek held within the glass tube-like case cried. The Doctor and the Hatter slowly opened their eyes, looking back to each other in confusion, certain they must have misheard, when it spoke again, "You will save us".

They turned around to stare at the Dalek, unable to believe what they were hearing, "We'll what?" he frowned, lowering his arm.

"You will save the Daleks!"

"Save the Daleks!" all of the other Daleks began chanting throughout the room, making the Doctor and the Hatter blink in shock, "Save the Daleks! Save the Daleks! Save the Daleks! Save the Daleks! Save the Daleks! Save the Daleks…!"

"Well…" the Doctor looked back to the Hatter as the chanting continued, almost deafening, "This is new, dear," he smiled faintly.

The Hatter laughed, shaking her head in disbelief. That was certainly one way to put it, though she really could have done without the chanting, it truly was quite grating. She was very pleased she wasn't pregnant right now; she would likely have ended up developing a nasty headache from it. Thankfully, the chanting did stop after a few more rounds of 'Save the Daleks!' and she and the Doctor finally had a chance to actually think, the Doctor letting go of her hand to start pacing rapidly up and down before the bottom of the incline, leaving the Hatter to cross her arms across her chest and frown slightly, shooting Amy and Rory quick glances out of the corner of her eye.

"What are they doing?" Rory questioned quietly to Amy, eyeing the Time Lords curiously as the Daleks eyestalks swivelled back and forth as the Doctor paced.

"The Hatter's currently pretending not to be concerned about us to try and distract herself from the fact that she knows that there's no escape from this, while obviously failing at acting," Amy said just as softly, though not nearly quietly enough for the Hatter's sensitive ears to miss, eyeing the Time Lords as she spoke, "And the Doctor's chosen the most defendable area in the room, counted all the Daleks, counted all the exits, and now…" the Doctor's eyes flickered across to her and Rory, "…he's calculating the exact distance we're standing apart and starting to worry. Oh, look at him frowning now…" the Doctor narrowed his eyes on the humans, before quickly throwing the Hatter a searching look, "And he's now trying to figure out if the Hatter's noticed, too, and trying to work out if she has any idea about what might be going on between us," she shook her head fondly, rolling her eyes slightly as the Doctor returned his attention back onto her and Rory, "'Something's wrong with Amy and Rory, and who's going to fix it?'" the Doctor straightened and reached up to straighten his bowtie, making Amy sigh slightly, "And he straightens his bowtie".

The Hatter struggled to hold back a small laugh at that last part; Amy truly did know them so well. She wasn't sure if it was a good thing that Amy was able to read them so well or not, though, in fairness, Amy had travelled with them for a long, long time.

"We have arrived," the white Dalek announced.

The Doctor and the Hatter turned to face it, frowning slightly, "Arrived where?" he asked.

"Doctor," the mutant Dalek called, "Hatter".

"The Prime Minister will speak to you now," Darla informed them, holding out a hand towards the mutant Dalek within the glass case, the eyestalk glowing bright blue beneath her red fringe.

The Time Lords exchanged look and stepped forward onto the incline, pausing to turn towards Darla, "Do you remember who you were before they emptied you out and turned you into their…puppet?" the Doctor eyed her.

"My memories are only reactivated if they are required to facilitate cover or disguise".

"But she was your _daughter_ ," the Hatter stared at her, stunned and horrified that she could speak so calmly without any trace of emotion as she spoke of her life, "Hannah, that was her name, the name _you_ gave to her when she was a baby. She's your own child".

"I know," she replied lightly, leaning towards them, "I've read my file," she straightened and once more held out her hand, gesturing for them to continue on up the rest of the ramp.

The Hatter swallowed, feeling slightly ill by her response, while the Doctor's expression was grim as he placed a hand on her lower back, lightly turning her away from Darla and guiding her up the rest of the ramp towards the Prime Minister Dalek. They came to a stop before the glass casing, looking at the flesh coloured creature within.

"Well?" he raised his eyebrows.

"What do you know of the Dalek Asylum?" it asked them.

"I've heard about it, the legend," the Time Lady frowned slightly, eyeing the creature. It was even debated about if it was real during the Time War within the War Council, though she wasn't about to admit that in front of the Daleks right now. Technically speaking, she probably wasn't even meant to speak of it to the Doctor, not that she cared about that, "The Dalek Asylum is said to be a planet, an entire world in which you lockup all of the Daleks that have been driven mad or are so badly battle-scarred that they are uncontrollable".

"It's never made any sense to me," the Doctor remarked, and the Hatter looked at him thoughtfully, feeling like she had an idea of just why the Daleks did it, but she very dearly hoped it wasn't true.

"Why not?" the Dalek turned its yellow eye onto the Doctor.

"Because you'd just kill them".

"It is offensive to us to extinguish such divine hatred".

The Hatter made a noise of disgust, though she wasn't surprised, while the Doctor gave the Dalek a startled look, "Offensive?" he repeated slowly.

"Does it surprise you to know the Daleks have a concept of beauty?"

"A twisted version, to say the least," the Hatter said in disgust, shaking her head, having to look away from the glass, unable to stand looking at it.

The Doctor took a step closer to the glass, leaning down until he was eye level with the one yellow eye of the Dalek, "I thought you'd run out of ways to make me _sick_ ," he said quietly, dragging the last word out, "But hello again. You think hatred is beautiful," he straightened as the Hatter linked her arm through his, eyeing him worriedly as she gently tried to guide him away from the glass.

"Perhaps that is why we have never been able to kill either of you".

They both froze, looking at each other quickly as the Hatter grimaced slightly, throwing a look back over her shoulder, but before she had a chance to try and retort, there was a noise of metal grinding and a circle opened up in the middle of the floor, making Amy and Rory jump back. The Time Lords walked back down the ramp and across to the hole, peering down over the edge as Amy and Rory moved to do the same thing, looking down at a large planet below the ship, covered in what appeared to be a thick layer of snow or ice with a shimmering force field surrounding it.

"The Asylum," Darla informed them, coming to stand on the left of the Doctor, looking down at the planet, too, "It occupies the entire planet, right to the core".

"How many Daleks are in there?" the Doctor asked.

"A count has not been made. Millions, certainly".

"And what about life status?" the Hatter glanced over to Darla, raising her eyebrows, "Do you have any data about how many may still be alive? Well, they're Daleks, so death is kind of debatable…"

"It has to be assumed that they are all alive," she replied, "The Asylum is fully automated. Supervision is not required".

"Armed?" Amy looked across to Darla, who glanced back to her.

"The Daleks are always armed".

"What colour?" Rory spoke up, making everyone look at him, and he slowly looked back up to them as he felt their gaze. The Hatter struggled to hold back a laugh, settling for a small, amused smile, "I'm sorry, there weren't any good questions left," he said slightly defensively.

"You tried, Rory," the Hatter smiled at him, giving him a little wink, "And that's what counts".

"This signal is being received from the very heart of the Asylum," Darla continued, getting back on track as she looked back over her shoulder to the white Dalek, who had moved across to a control panel at the top of the ramp, pressing its plunger-like arm out onto the panel. A classical song began playing throughout the room from the opera 'Carmen,' making the humans and the Time Lords blink, and look around in confusion.

"What is the noise?" the white Dalek demanded as the Doctor, smiling widely at the Hatter, began happily conducting his finger in time with the music, making the Time Lady laugh fondly and shake her head at his antics, "Explain. Explain".

"Er, it's me," the Doctor admitted, still grinning rather proudly, still conducting his finger in midair.

"Sorry, what?" Rory frowned, slowly turning towards the Doctor.

"It's me, playing the triangle," he explained brightly, pretending to ding an air triangle.

"Yes, he was very good at it," the Hatter nodded, smiling fondly at him, while Amy and Rory continued to give him strange looks, "Ah, it was a shame all of the rest of the orchestra buried your performance, sweetheart…" she sighed slightly, patting his arm soothingly, and to think, he had been so excited about the idea of being a part of the production. He had even tried to get her to sing at first, but she had been more than happy to conduct and watch. She might be able to sing okay, but she was not anywhere near as good as any professionally trained opera singer, "Never mind that, we have more important things to be concerned about," she continued, frowning thoughtfully, "For instants, how exactly such a song could _possibly_ be being transmitted from a planet full of insane Daleks?"

There was no way that any Dalek would be playing any music, not even a damaged or crazy Dalek. They couldn't understand music; it was something completely alien to them, just a bunch of meaningless noise, so how could such a song be coming from a planet that is supposed to have nothing but Daleks on it?

The Doctor's eyes widened in realisation and he clicked his fingers at her, before grabbing her hand and taking off back up the ramp, heading for the control panel with the Hatter right on his heels. He pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket, flashing it at the panel and checking the results.

"You're right, dear, someone's transmitting this," he commented, slipping the sonic back inside his pocket. He looked back up to her, flashing her a grin, "Not that I ever doubted you, my clever wife".

"You better not have, my adorable husband," she shot back, winking playfully, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

His eyes lingered on her for a moment longer, considering drawing out the flirty banter for a little longer…but his desire to get as far away from the Daleks as quickly as possibly won out in the end, though more narrowly then was probably good for his own health. He lightly bopped her nose with his finger, laughing at how she scrunched up her face in mock annoyance before he looked back to the Daleks, his previous happy mood vanishing instantly.

"Have you considered tracking back the signal and talking to them?" he said to the Daleks, looking around expectantly, but they simply looked at them without saying a word. He shook his head, looking back to the Hatter, "He asked the Daleks…"

The Hatter laughed and turned back to the controls, reaching out to hit one of the controls, making the music turn off, "Hello?" she called over the link, "Is anyone there? Hello?"

There was a brief pause before…, "Hello?" a woman's voice came over, sounding a bit confused and unsure.

"Come in!" the Doctor tried, hitting another control, trying to steady the connection, "Come in! Come in, Carmen!"

"Hello!" her voice came again, growing quite excited now as she seemed to realise that they were actually speaking to her, "Yes, yes, sorry. Do you read me?"

"Yes, reading you loud and clear!" he grinned as the Hatter smiled happily, though she was a little concerned, too. A woman trapped in the middle of the Dalek Asylum…that was very bad news, "Identify yourself and report your status," he continued.

"Hello," the woman breathed, seeming stunned, "Are you real?" the Doctor and the Hatter looked at each other, amused, "Are you actually, properly, real?"

"Cross our hearts, all four of them," the Hatter nodded with a smile, miming crossing her own hearts over her chest as she spoke, "We are real, completely real. And you are…?"

"Oswin Oswald, Junior Entertainment Manger, Starship Alaska. Current status, crashed and shipwrecked somewhere…not nice. Been here a year, rest of the crew missing. Provisions good but keen to move on".

"A _year_?" the Doctor's eyes widened.

"Are you somewhere safe?" the Hatter asked in concern, frowning slightly, wondering just how anyone could survive being in the middle of a planet riddled with insane Daleks, "Have you been under attack?"

"Some local life forms," Oswald replied, "Been keeping them out".

"Do you know what those life forms are?" the Doctor frowned slightly, wondering if she had any idea just how much danger she was in right now.

"I know a Dalek when I hear one, yeah".

The Hatter eyed the controls curiously, "You've been trapped on a planet filled with Daleks for a whole year," she remarked slowly, finding it both fascinating and a little suspicious that someone could still be alive in a situation like that, "But what I want to know is how exactly you have been keeping the Daleks away? How have you survived a whole year?"

There was a brief pause, before Oswald said, "…making soufflés?"

"Soufflés?" the Doctor repeated, laughing lightly as the Hatter grinned, "Against the Daleks? Maybe you could give the Hatter a lesson; she's rubbish at making soufflés…"

"I'm not that bad!" the Hatter defended herself quickly, feeling her cheeks heating up as he gave her a look, "Well…okay, so maybe I am that bad…" she admitted, sighing slightly, "Things do tend to explode or end up on fire whenever I try cooking soufflés".

He flashed her a smile, wrapping his arm around her waist, "Not even you can be good at everything, dear," he said a little to happily, which made her narrow her eyes slightly, knowing how much he loved being able to do something better then she could. Gardening, drawing, languages, musical instruments…he was always far more artistic then her, while she was more academic. It made her curious to see which direction Astra would lean.

She shook her head, when a thought suddenly occurred to her, making her frown, "Hang on…" she looked back to the control panel, "If you've been trapped for over a year, then where do you get the milk for the soufflés? Even with plenty of provisions, making soufflés for a year would have to be cutting into your supply".

"This conversation is irrelevant," the white Dalek said, gliding towards them.

"No, it isn't!" the Doctor spun around to glare at it, just as the connection was cut off, "Because if a starliner has crashed into your Asylum, and someone's got in".

"And if someone's got in…" the Hatter's eyes widened, horrified as it finally all made sense to her just why the Daleks would be so desperate for help in the first place. Oh, this was even worse then she had first thought, "Then that means that others can get out…" she breathed, looking back up to the white Dalek, "Every single one of those mad and unstable Daleks can get off that planet if they really tried, and eventually one of them _will_ , because that's what happens when you put people in a prison. Eventually someone _always_ tries to escape," she glanced back over to the Prime Minister Dalek, "And that's something not even you lot would want because you can't control any of them, isn't that right?"

"The Asylum must be cleansed," the white Dalek confirmed.

"Then why is it still here?" the Doctor questioned, frowning at it, "You've enough fire power on this ship to blast it out of the sky".

"The Asylum force-field is impenetrable," Darla informed them.

The Hatter glanced back over to her, "Did anyone think about turning it off…?" she raised an eyebrow, though she didn't think it would be that easy or simple.

"It can only be turned off from within the Asylum".

"Of course," she rolled her eyes, sighing heavily, "You lot, seriously. You've got to work on those design flaws, first it was the stairs thing, now this? You never put the 'off' switch in the middle of the thing that might need to one day turn off; did no one teach you this in Dalek school?"

"Hatter…" the Doctor cut in quickly, his voice low, giving her a slightly tense smile, "Don't go giving them ideas about how to improve, they're Daleks!"

"I know, I know," she muttered, shaking her head, "But I'm an engineer and I just hate illogical design features…even when it's an enemies design flaws".

His smile softened slightly as he shook his head fondly, he sometimes forgot that the Hatter used to have a life and a job before she began travelling the Universe; he personally tried very hard not to think too deeply about what he used to do before he had run away from Gallifrey, but the Hatter…well, she was different. He knew that she had actually quite enjoyed her work, though she hated the fact that she had to report directly to the High Council and that she had been ordered on what to work on, rather than had her freedom to do whatever research she so wished to at the time. And more than the fact that she had liked it, she had been very good at it, too. She always had a natural ability to be able to look at something and see what needed improving within a design, but he had also always thought that she probably would have made a good politician, like her father and eldest son. She had the compassion to want to help others that would have made her quite popular amongst the people, but probably not so much amongst the rest of the Council. Still, ultimately he felt that she had made the best choice; she was a dreamer and an adventure at heart, just like him. Travelling was where she truly flourished.

The Doctor pulled his gaze off of the Hatter, trying hard to focus back onto the task at hand, "A small taskforce could sneak through a force-field surrounding the Asylum," he began with a dismissive wave of his hand, looking back to the Daleks, before he began to guide the Time Lady back down the ramp, "Send in a couple of Daleks..." he and the Hatter stopped in middle of the ramp, looking at each other at the same time, thinking the same thing. They slowly turned back around; looking at the Daleks, "Oh…" he rolled his eyes, dropping his arm from around the Time Lady to clap sarcastically, "Oh. Oh, that's good," he stopped clapping, smirking mockingly, "That's brilliant. You're all too scared to go down there".

"What's wrong?" the Hatter raised her eyebrows around at them all, "Scared those Daleks might be holding a bit of a grudge about being locked away?" she cooed mockingly, unable to help herself, because it was just too funny to see all of these Daleks to afraid to do something, "Daleks, so brave and courage's…" she scoffed with a hint of bitterness in her tone, and to think, this was the race that had survived when so many actually brave and courage's Time Lords had perished. It wasn't fair.

"Not one of you will go," the Doctor continued, casting her a slightly concerned look out of the corner of his eyes, not liking how dark her expression had grown so quickly. He turned back to the Daleks, focusing on the white Dalek, "So tell me, what do the Daleks do when they're too scared?"

"The Predator of the Daleks will be deployed," the white Dalek responded.

The Time Lords looked at each other in confusion, not understanding who the Dalek could possibly be referring to, "You don't have a predator," he frowned back at it, "And even if you did, why would they turn off a force-field for you?"

"Because you will have no other means of escape," the Prime Minister Dalek told them, "And nor will your female counterpart…" its yellow eye moved to rest on the Hatter.

"Me?" the Hatter blinked, giving the mutant Dalek a startled look, before her eyes widened and she looked quickly back to the Doctor, "Oh, I see…" she breathed, catching on.

"Well, I don't," the Doctor shook his head, looking to her.

She sighed, turning to him, "It's you, Doctor," she explained, "You're this 'Predator,'" she paused, shrugging thoughtfully, "It makes sense, you did fight them actively during the Time War, while I was behind the scenes. Why wouldn't they give you a name?"

"Me?" the Doctor stared around at all of the Daleks, quite shocked, " _Me_?"

"You will need this," Darla said, gesturing towards two more Dalek puppets, both men with shaved heads. They approached the Doctor and the Hatter and grabbed their right wrists, clicking a black band around them, like a watch but with a blue light on the face of it, which lit up as they clicked them on, "It will protect you from the nano-cloud".

"The what?" he asked her, throwing the two men a quick look as they began starting to escort himself and the Hatter further down the ramp, "The nano-what?"

She ignored his questions, "The gravity beam will convey you close to the source of the transmission," she continued as the Doctor and the Hatter allowed themselves to be pulled back over to Amy and Rory, "You must find a way to deactivate the force-field from there".

Suddenly, a pale blue beam of light appeared over the hole in the floor, running directly down to the Asylum below them, like a tunnel.

"You're going to fire us at a planet?" the Doctor exclaimed as they were brought to a stop by the edge of the hole, the two men seeming to be acting more like guards now, preventing them from trying to escape by holding their arms tightly, "That's your plan? We get fired at a planet and expected to fix it!"

"In fairness, that is slightly your M.O," Rory commented, looking around Amy to them.

"Don't be fair to the Daleks when they're firing my wife and I at a planet!"

"Doctor, calm down," the Hatter told him, giving him a soothing look, "Rory's right, we're more then used to doing stuff like this…no matter how unpleasant and deadly it sounds…" she shot the gravity beam a wary look, wondering just what they would find on the other end, when she noticed one of the men moving around to put a wristband on both Rory and Amy, "Wait a minute," her frown deepened, looking back over her shoulder, "Why are you including Amy and Rory in this?"

"It is known that the Doctor and the Hatter require companions," the white Dalek replied.

"Oh, brilliant!" Rory shouted sarcastically, rolling his eyes, "Good-oh!"

"It's going to be okay," the Time Lady tried to reassure them, giving them a comforting smile.

"We'll get through this," the Doctor added, pausing to glance at the Hatter, who nodded, "We promise," he turned back to the humans, "Don't be scared".

"Scared?" Amy looked back to them, smirking, "Who's scared? Geronimo," she even gave them a very Hatter-like wink.

The Hatter grinned and reached up to whip her hat off her head, sticking it safely inside her pocket as the Doctor laughed, when the man standing just behind him suddenly pushed him in the back, sending him toppling straight into the gravity beam with a loud cry of 'Oi!' The Hatter didn't wait to be pushed, jumping forward into the beam as she saw the man moving towards her, laughing in delight as her hair was tousled around her as she fell through the beam, Amy and Rory following right behind her, but she was apparently the only one who was enjoying the sensation, everyone else shouting and screaming as they fell.

"Wrong way up!" Rory yelled frantically, falling straight passed the Hatter and Amy, upside down as he waved his arms around helplessly beside him, "Wrong way up!"

"Rory!" Amy cried, seeing him falling passed her, trying to reach out and grab his arm.

"Be brave, Rory!" the Hatter shouted after him as he continued moving down faster away from them, unable to reach him to try and help him. She managed to somehow swing herself sideways and the Doctor reached out, grabbing her arm, pulling her closer to him as they continued plummeting towards the planets surface…

….

The Hatter slowly opened her eyes and almost immediately wished she hadn't, closing her eyes again with a pained groan as the bright sunlight above her head hit her, reflecting off the white snow covering the ground around her, which felt quite chilly beneath her. The Doctor was lying sprawled across the ground beside her, his eyes closed and still seeming to be unconscious. It was moment's like this that made her so very grateful that they hadn't brought Astra along with them, poor Astra would have been terrified by the gravity beam.

"Snow…" she muttered, slowly sitting up and opening her eyes carefully, squinting against the light, "Love snow…though, not when it's so bright…" she trailed off as she noticed a Dalek eyestalk slowly popping up out of the snow a short distance away from them, moving around and adjusting its self before it seemed to settle on herself and the Doctor, "Doctor…" she hissed, reaching over to sharply nudge his side, "Doctor, wake up!"

The Doctor woke with a small start and sat upright, looking around frantically, searching for any Daleks who might be about to attack them…only to calm down as he noticed the Hatter trying hard not to giggle as she gave his arm an apologetic pat, not having meant to alarm him so much.

"Sorry, sweetheart," she smiled sheepishly, looking passed him to the eyestalk sticking out of the snow, "But I think we might have a guest".

He sighed in relief and gave her a mock glare, though he really couldn't bring himself to be annoyed with her when she gave him that little smile that made that dimple in her right cheek appear and her hair looking like a complete mess from the gravity beam. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts as he looked over to the eyestalk, "Oh…" he began laughing, squinting at it curiously as they waited.

There was a faint clicking noise before Carmen started blaring again, making the Time Lords grin and exchange a smile, the Hatter reaching into her pocket to pull her hat out and stick it back onto her head, not even caring about her terribly windswept hairdo right now. The song cut off abruptly.

"Sorry, sorry!" Oswin's voice called over it, "Pressed the wrong switch".

"Soufflé girl?" the Doctor asked in mild surprise.

"You can always call me Oswin, seeing as that's my name…"

"Oswin," the Hatter cut in with a soft, sad smile, "Lovely name".

"Thanks! You two okay?"

"Just dandy, thank you," the Time Lady said lightly, eyeing the eyestalk with a small, thoughtful frown as the Doctor edged closer to it, practically sticking his whole face right up against the eye, "Out of interest, how are you managing to speak to us through a Dalek eye?" she glanced at the back of the Doctor's head, her frown deepening, "That's Dalek technology, you shouldn't have access to it".

"It's very easy to hack".

"No, it isn't!" the Doctor shook his head, sitting up to look at the Hatter, "Not even the Hatter could manage to hack it…"

"And trust me, the Doctor and I tried," the brunet added, finding it to be very difficult to believe that any human could possibly have been able to hack into Dalek technology. She and the Doctor had worked on it both together and separately during the Time War, but they never got close to breaking through. No Time Lord had ever come close, it shouldn't be possible for Oswin to do it, but she obviously had, somehow. It didn't make sense; in fact a lot of this situation didn't make sense.

The Doctor nodded in agreement and reached into his pocket, pulling his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and flashing it at the eyestalk, "Where are you?" he asked, checking the results on the device.

"The ship broke up when it hit," Oswin told them, "Somewhere underground, I think. You coming to get me?" her voice grew hopeful and very eager.

"Doctor?" Amy's voice sounded from somewhere close by, making the Time Lords look up, "Hatter?"

"This way, Amy!" the Hatter called back to her, climbing onto her feet, catching sight of red hair appearing just over a snowy ridge behind them.

The Doctor turned back to the eyestalk, only to frown as he noticed that the screen on the eye was starting to flicker, losing the connection, "Hey!" he reached out with the sonic screwdriver, tapping the screen, "Oi! Soufflé girl!" the connection failed completely, static filling the speaker, "Come back!"

"Doctor, Hatter!" Amy cried, hurrying down the sloping side of the ridge as quickly as she possibly could in the snow, stumbling slightly, while a man in a white snow outfit followed a few steps behind her.

"Amy, there you are!" the Hatter cheered happily, quickly moving to help steady her as she reached the bottom of the hill, almost falling over. The Doctor stood and moved to help grab Amy's arms before the Time Lady could be pulled over, the Hatter's eyes moving to look at the stranger trailing behind Amy, "Hello, there," she greeted him slowly, a little puzzled by just who he was, before she shook her head and turned back to Amy, "Where's Rory?"

"There was another beam," the man informed them as he joined them, making them look at him, "There," he pointed off onto the other side of another ridge, "Over there…" the Doctor and the Hatter took off running in the direction, Amy right on their heels, while the man blinked slightly, "Are you the rescue team?" he called after them, following quickly.

They dashed over the snow, tripping in places, weighed down slightly by how thick the snow was. The Hatter tried very hard to ignore the unpleasant feeling of snow on her legs through her bright orange tights as they struggled up a hill, panting slightly by the time they had reached the top, looking down to see something in the snow just a little bit down from them. They hurried over to it and gathered around it as they found that a large circle had been drilled through the snow and rock, going straight down into the ground below them. It was impossible to see what was down there as they peered over the edge or how far it went. It was completely pitch black.

"Rory?" Amy frowned worriedly, glancing quickly back to the Time Lords and back to the hole, "Rory?" she tried again, raising her voice as it echoed down the shaft, "RORY!"

The Hatter sighed and reached out to place a comforting hand on Amy back, looking back over to the man, "Please tell me you have a rope or something that might get us down there?"

The man nodded quickly, looking between them quickly, "We should do," he said, "I'm Harvey…"

"The Doctor," the Doctor introduced himself, reaching out to take the Hatter's hand, "This is my wife, the Hatter," the Hatter gave him a cheerful little wave, "And our friend, Amy…" he pointed over to Amy with his free hand.

He gave them a brief smile, "The ships this way…" he turned and began leading them away from the shaft.

Amy stared down at the shaft, looking almost close to tears, before she straightened and took a deep breath, turning to follow after the man. The Doctor and the Hatter exchanged a look as they followed; now they had two people alive who really shouldn't be. This was shaping up to be a very tricky situation, after all, how did they know who they could trust?

"We came down two days ago," Harvey told them as he lead them over the snow, his ship apparently only just a short distance away, "There's twelve of our escape pods…" he bent down to touch a button in middle of a circular hatch door that was sticking up just above the snow, unlocking the door, "I don't know what happened to them," he grabbed the heavy door handle and started to pull it up.

Amy frowned slightly as she noticed something red through the snow beside the door and used her shoe to wipe the snow away from it, revealing red painted writing scrawled across the side of a ship, "'The Alaska?'" she read aloud, glancing at the Time Lords as they leaned in for a closer look, the Doctor reaching down to brush his fingers over the writing, "That's the same ship as soufflé girl".

"Oswin," the Hatter corrected absently, glancing back over to Harvey, who had just pulled the hatch door open.

"Yeah…" the Doctor muttered to Amy, throwing the man a wary look, too, "Except she's been here a year".

"One of them has to be mistaken," the Time Lady said softly, still giving Harvey suspicious looks out of the corner of her eye. Oswin made no sense for so many reasons and now this man turns up, seemingly from the very same ship as Oswin but under the belief that it's only been two days, not a year. They both seemed to be very sure about the timeframe, so which was it? "Or perhaps both of them are," she continued with a small shrug, giving Amy and the Doctor a very serious look, "Either way, I do believe that we should tread carefully and be very watchful".

The Doctor squeezed her hand, "Definitely," he said firmly, keeping his voice low as Harvey started to climb down the ladder. He gave both women a sharp look, "We stick together, okay?"

Amy frowned slightly; "Should we really be going down there if we can't trust him?" she nodded to the open hatch.

"We don't have much of a choice, as far as I see it," the Hatter sighed, "We need to get down to Rory, but we can't do that without a rope or ladder. We're just going to have to be careful and hope very dearly that it all works out".

"Basically, just do what we always do," the Doctor grinned brightly as Amy shook her head, before leaning in to give the brunet a quick kiss on her cheek and letting go of her hand. He turned to start climbing down the ladder after Harvey, who had just reached the bottom.

"We should have some climbing rope long enough for that hole," Harvey called to them as the Doctor reached the bottom of the ladder, the Hatter and Amy climbing down right behind him.

The Doctor looked around at the darkened cabin as Harvey moved off to the side, pulling open a locker door and rummaging around inside it. There were three rows of seats in the middle of the room with the rest of the crew sitting in them, all wearing the same white snow gear as Harvey. The Hatter frowned as she jumped the last rung on the ladder to stand beside the Doctor, eyeing the motionless figures sitting within the seats suspiciously, not one of them even looking up at their entrance, which was very strange. Surely they would be delighted to see other people?

"Won't you introduce us to your crew?" the Doctor asked Harvey, reaching out to take the Time Lady's hand again, not liking this at all.

"Ah, yes, sorry," he glanced back over to them, just as Amy jumped down beside the brunet, "Guys…" he looked back over to the rest of his crew, "This is the Doctor, the Hatter, and Amy…" he pointed over to them as the Doctor gave a small salute, but still no one moved or said a word. He frowned at them, "Guys?" he tried again, but still there was no response.

The Doctor looked at the Hatter and Amy, the Time Lady's expression grave as she reluctantly let go of his hand and gave him a small nod, moving herself so that she stood within easy grabbing distance of him so that if anything happened, she would be able to pull him back quickly. He gave her a smile, knowing what she was doing, and slowly moved across the back row of seats and reached out to one of the figures, patting their shoulder. The figure fell backwards against the seat from where it had been slumped forward, its head falling back to reveal a dried out, desiccated corpse.

"Oh, my God!" Harvey gasped in shock, staring at his dead crew member in horror.

The Hatter gave him a sad look, knowing how deeply a connection between people that you travel alongside could be, while the Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled his sonic screwdriver out flashing it around at the rest of the crew as he moved further down the seats. He checked the results.

"They're dead," he sighed, sticking the sonic back inside his pocket, "All of them," he moved around to stand at the front of the room, looking back down to them.

"That's not possible," Harvey shook his head, looking quite confused, "I just spoke to them. Two house ago! We were doing engine repairs".

"Are you quite certain about that timeframe?" the Hatter raised her eyebrows at him, stepping down along the side of the wall and the seats, eyeing each body carefully, "Personally, I think it's been a lot longer than just two hours".

"But it can't have been…" he said slowly, his voice growing soft.

Amy moved closer to the Time Lady, looking at the bodies, "Well, they didn't get in this state in two hours," she remarked, looking a little disgusted and unnerved.

"No…" he breathed suddenly, his eyes widening before his expression became completely blank, "Of course. Stupid me…"

She frowned at him as the Doctor and the Hatter tensed, exchanging a slightly worried look, not liking the sudden shift in Harvey's body language, "Of course what?" she asked, not seeming to have noticed anything wrong.

"Amy…" the Hatter said warily, reaching out to grab her arm.

"I died outside," Harvey told them, not even blinking, "And the cold preserved my body. I forgot about dying".

There was a soft mechanical clicking noise, just before a Dalek eyestalk sprouted from his forehead, just like Darla's had, glowing bright blue. He turned and began advancing on the Doctor, who quickly grabbed a fire extinguisher from off the wall behind him, firing it off in Harvey's face, sending him stumbling backwards.

"Amy, come on!" the Hatter shouted, pulling Amy along behind her as she took off running over to a door at the back of the room, behind the ladder. She hit a button beside the door, making it slide open and quickly stepped back as the Doctor forced Harvey backwards through the doorway, before hurrying forward to slam her hand against the button once more, closing it on him and locking it.

"Explain," Amy looked quickly between the Time Lords; feeling a bit like a ragdoll after the Time Lady had tugged her around, "That's what you're both good at. How'd he get all Daleked?"

"He was missing one of these…" the Time Lady shook back her jacket and top sleeve, showing the device strapped around her wrist.

"Oh, ho, ho!" the Doctor laughed slightly, pointing at the brunet, "That's clever! The nano-cloud. Microorganisms that automatically process any organic matter, living or dead, into a Dalek puppet," he absently pattered one of the skulls of the dead crew, making Amy narrow her eyes as the Hatter gave a small gasp, realising something, "Anything attacking this place, it automatically becomes part of the on-site security".

"Living or dead?" Amy said slowly, looking around at all the crew, before quickly glancing at the Hatter, who grimaced and gave her a nod.

"These wristbands protect us," he continued, seemingly oblivious as he held up his own wrist, "The only thing stopping us going exactly the way he did…"

"Doctor!" the Hatter hissed, reaching out to grab his arm, turning him back towards her and Amy. She met his eyes, forcing herself to take a deep, steady breath, "Living _or_ dead. Think it through, sweetheart".

"Yes, exactly, dear," he nodded, looking at her in confusion, "Living or, or…" he stopped suddenly, seeing both woman staring back at him with very pointed looks, the Time Lady's grip on his arm almost growing painful. Slowly, he glanced back over towards the crew, swallowing hard as he noticed that all of the bodies of the crew were starting to sprout eyestalks from their foreheads and climbing onto their feet, "…or dead," he breathed, moving himself closing to the Hatter as the three of them backed up against the door behind them, trapped, "Oh, dear".

"Finally, he notices!" the Time Lady exclaimed in mild exasperation, though she supposed that she could hardly judge. She hadn't made the connection much sooner than he had.

The Doctor winced slightly, giving her a sheepish look before glancing back to the door behind them, but it would be impossible to get out through that way. They could already hear Harvey pounding against the other side, trying to get through. They spun back around, seeing no other choice and he jumped over the top of the back row of seats, climbing over the top of each row, kicking the dead crew out of his way as the Hatter grabbed Amy's arm, dragging her around the other side of the seats and down towards where a door was at the front of the cabin.

The Hatter reached the door, managing to avoid most of the crew as she slammed her hand against the button beside the door, opening the door. She lunged through the doorway as the Doctor joined them, Amy right behind her when she gave a loud scream. The Time Lords spun back around to see that one of the crew had grabbed Amy's arm, trying to pull her back, but the Time Lords grabbed Amy from behind, managing to tug her free, the Doctor kicking the button beside the door, slamming it closed on the crew. They fell back against the locked door, gasping for breath as Amy clutched her wrist up to her chest.

Still panting slightly, Amy looked back to the Time Lords, smiling widely, "Is it bad that I've _really_ missed this?" she asked them, laughing.

"Probably," the Hatter replied with a grin.

"Yes," the Doctor said at the same time.

She laughed harder as the Time Lords exchanged a quick look, before high fiving one another, "Good".

"We know!"

"Unauthorised personal may not enter the cockpit," Oswin's voice came over the comm., sounding mock professional.

"Shut up," the Doctor scoffed, though he was smiling faintly as he pushed himself off the door, moving to take a seat in one of the pilot chairs.

"Ooh, Mr Grumpy! Bad combo. No sense of humour in that chin".

The Hatter smiled as she moved to lean over the top of the Doctor's shoulder, looking into the small camera sitting on the controls, rather liking Oswin's cheerfulness and ability to tease, even when in a less than ideal situation. It was a very good trait to have.

"Is that her again?" Amy asked curiously, "Soufflé girl?"

"Her name is Oswin," the Hatter corrected her lightly, glancing back over to her, "And yes, it is".

"Oi!" the Doctor huffed, frowning at the camera as he reached up to touch his chin, looking quite offended, "What is wrong with my chin?"

"Careful, dear," Oswin called back, mock serious, "You'll put someone's eye out".

The Hatter laughed as the Doctor pouted, "Thank goodness Astra seems to have inherited my chin," she remarked fondly, leaning down to drop a kiss on top of his head.

"Hatter!" he moaned, tilting his head back to look up at her, "You're supposed to be on _my_ side!" though, when it came to other people teasing him, she usually did take their side over his.

She pattered his cheek gently, smiling softly, "If it makes you feel any better, sweetheart, you do have nice eyes," she told him, making him brighten slightly, "Very gentle and green. Also, Astra has them too".

He grinned up at her, all of his previous offence over his chin forgotten about now, and hearing that she thought that Astra had the same eyes as him did make him feel quite happy. Astra took after her so much in looks, but her eyes…they were his, or at least they seemed to be as Astra got older, "You like my eyes?" he raised his eyebrows up at her.

"Oh, no you don't," she shook her head, giving him a knowing look, "I am not going to stroke your already giant ego any more than needed. You're perfectly aware of what I think of them".

"And what about _your_ eyes? All clever and twinkly when you laugh, and when you're cross you get this little line right between your eyes…"

"You two finished flirting yet?" Oswin's voice drifted through the cockpit, while Amy laughed slightly as the Doctor and the Hatter both gave a small start, the Time Lady's cheeks looking rather pink from the Doctor's compliments and ramblings about her eyes.

"Yes, sorry," the Hatter coughed, clearing her throat as she looked back over to the camera on the controls. She was seriously regretting bringing up the Doctor's eyes; she ought to have known he would turn it around onto her eyes, like usual, though she had hoped that bringing up his ego might distract him.

"I've been scanning you," she continued, "You're in another of the escape pods from the Alaska, right? Same ship I was on".

"How can you hack into everything?" the Doctor frowned, shaking his head, "It should be impossible. You're in a crashed ship and not my wife!"

"Not even I could do that, sweetheart," the Hatter told him, knowing for a fact that she couldn't hack into the Daleks systems, no one could. It didn't make sense, none of it did. Oswin shouldn't be able to do it.

"Long story," Oswin replied, before pausing, "Is there a word for total screaming genius that sounds modest and a tiny bit sexy?"

"Hatter," the Doctor said after once, smirking back up at the Time Lady, who instantly began blushing again. He simply smiled wider and reached out to take her hand, pressing a kiss onto her knuckles, not taking his eyes off hers, "My brilliant wife, the Hatter".

"Ooh, I see what you did there," Oswin laughed, "Smooth".

"Honestly, Doctor…" the Hatter muttered embarrassedly.

"What?" he said innocently, raising his eyebrows at her, "You're a genius, modest… _sometimes_ , and I personally think very, very…"

"Finish that sentence and get a smack," she warned him quickly, blushing harder than ever, half-wishing she was outside the cockpit with the rest of the dead crew, still trying to fight them off, rather than standing there, listening to the Doctor going on about her like this. It was embarrassing, flattering and rather sweet, but mortifying to know that Oswin and Amy were hearing it all.

"I'm just being honest, dear".

"You know, Doctor, there are moments in which I find myself wondering just how it is that I've come to be married to an adorable idiot like you. This is one of those times".

The Doctor blinked slowly at her for a moment, looking a little unsure, "I can't tell if that's a good or bad thing…"

"Good," she assured him, smiling brightly, leaning down to drop another kiss on top of his head and giving his hair a little ruffle, "Always good, sweetheart".

"Okay…" Oswin's voice came over again, sounding caught between amusement and disgust, "I think I'm starting to see a pattern between you two. Do you ever get anything done with all that flirting going on?"

The Doctor and the Hatter looked at each other, exchanging smiles, "Surprisingly, yes, we do," the Time Lady said, looking back over to the small camera, shrugging casually, "Sometimes we even manage to safe the Universe while doing it. We're good at multitasking…"

"She's better," the Doctor added, pointing at the Time Lady with a quick smile, making her roll her eyes at him, though with fondness.

There was a small beep that sounded, "Check the floor," Oswin instructed them, growing serious, "I'm picking up a breech at floor level. There could be a way out. See you later!" she finished cheerfully, ending the connection.

The Hatter looked down at the floor and broke into a smile, seeing a square panel in the middle of the floor, lined by bright yellow tape, "Here we go," she said brightly, moving to kneel beside the panel as the Doctor stood and moved to crouch beside her, "Looks like an emergency escape hatch…" she paused, glancing back over towards the cockpit door, just as one of the dead crew tried forcing it open from the outside, "Which seems quite appropriate, right now".

The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver out his pocket, flashing it at the panel, "Looks like it's been used already and they've tried to block it off behind them," he commented, lightly tugging on a piece of blue rope that seemed to run down through the hatch.

"Can't imagine why," Amy said sarcastically, throwing the door behind them a look, just as more banging sounded.

"The lower part of the pod is buried," he continued, ignoring her sarcasm as he tucked his sonic screwdriver back into his pocket, "So this must go straight down to the Asylum".

"Where Rory is," she brightened, looking hopeful as she moved to kneel on the other side of the Time Lady.

He glanced back up to her as he began trying to open the hatch, "Speaking of Rory…" he grimaced, struggling to lift the hatch, even with the Hatter trying to help as she kept her eyes firmly on the panel, "Is there anything you want to tell me?" he paused, glancing at the Hatter, "I know the Hatter knows more than she's saying…"

"I made a promise, Doctor," the Hatter said sharply, still refusing to look at either of them, "Besides…" she sighed, finally looking up to Amy, her expression clear of emotions, "Regardless of whether or not I disagree, it's not my place, is it, _Amelia_?"

Amy winced slightly at her tone, knowing just how much the Time Lady truly did disagree with it, but she also knew that the Hatter would never tell anyone, not even the Doctor, when she had given her word that she wouldn't say anything, "Are we going to do this _now_?" she sighed, really not wanting to discuss it.

"What happened?" the Doctor asked, not about to give up, still trying to get the hatch open, "Why did you make the Hatter promise not to say anything?"

"Oh, stuff, you know," she tried to shrug it off, avoiding his eyes, "We split up. What can you do?"

"You know exactly what you can do, Amy," the Hatter looked at her firmly, narrowing her eyes as Amy sighed again and shifted awkwardly, "I've tried to help you, I've pleaded with you to think things through and nothing I've said has any affect, has it?" she reached out and grabbed Amy's hands, holding them tightly, her expression softening, "There's still time to fix this, Amy, please…"

"It's not one of those things you can fix like you fix your hat," she shook her head sadly, looking between them both as the Doctor and the Hatter stared back at her, pleading with her even though the Doctor still wasn't sure what it was that was wrong in the first place. She frowned at them, trying hard to look annoyed, "Don't give me those big wet eyes, Raggedy Man, Shabby Hatter. It's life. Just life. That thing that goes on when you're not there".

"Just like it's our choices that define us, Amy," the Time Lady said softly, squeezing her hands before letting go of them.

The Doctor looked between them for a moment, wishing that he knew what was wrong and how he could try and help, but if even the Hatter couldn't seem to make things better, he wasn't sure what more he could do to help. He looked back down the hatch and gave it another hard shove, finally managing to dislodge whatever it was that had been keeping it closed in the first place, pulling it open to reveal a long, flexible metal ladder already hanging down in the hole.

"Okay," Amy looked down over the edge of the hole, pleased to finally be able to change the subject, "So somebody else got out this way, then".

"Yeah, let's go and find them," the Doctor nodded, when he noticed something on the small screen that was by the cockpit door, showing the dead crew standing outside, banging on the door, "Oh, hello, hello, hello," he jumped onto his feet and moved around the hole to look at the screen, "What are they up to?"

The Hatter and Amy stood, moving to peer at the screen, seeing one of the dead looking up towards the camera, waving something around on the black and white feed.

"What's that?" Amy frowned.

The Hatter's eyes widened, realising what it was, "They've managed to get one of these…" she held up her wrist with the device strapped around it, growing quite alarmed, "But how did they get it? Where?" she quickly looked over to the Doctor, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw his still on.

"Me…" Amy suddenly breathed, pulling her sleeve back, showing them her bare wrist. She swallowed, trying hard to hide just how frightened she actually was, "They got it from me".

"Oh, Amy," the Doctor said quietly, reaching out to take the Hatter's hand as they stared at her.

"What's going to happen to me? Seriously. Tell me what".

The Hatter opened her mouth to tell her, but quickly closed it, her hearts sinking at she looked at Amy's face. She just couldn't bring herself to tell her the truth, she just couldn't, "We should go," she said instead, swallowing hard as she dragged her eyes off Amy to give the Doctor a pointed look, before turning and moving back over towards the hole.

The Doctor nodded slowly, giving Amy a strained smile and reaching out to pat her arm, glancing back to the screen to see the dead crew waving the wristband up at the screen tauntingly. There was nothing that could be done about it now, they had to keep moving and hope that they could fix things before it was too late for Amy.

 _ **Not much of Astra in this chapter or the next one, but we did get a fair bit of the Doctor and the Hatter flirting, which I really wanted to do during this chapter, since I felt like we hadn't had much of that from them in a while. I did consider sending the Hatter off with Rory, too, but I decided against it when I began writing, since I have other plans in the future.**_

 _ **Next chapter: the Hatter feels the urge to do something she never imagined she would want to do, suspicion grows, and our Time Lords are forced to come face to face with some passed adversaries that they had faced in previous adventures. I hope you liked it, tell me what you thought. Please review :)**_


	3. Chapter 3 Asylum of the Daleks, Part 2

_**The Asylum of The Daleks, Part 2**_

The Hatter climbed down the ladder that they had found connected to the shaft leading down from the hatch in the cockpit of the ship above them, while the Doctor climbed down just two rungs above her and Amy followed above him. The Doctor wasn't overly pleased by the idea of the Hatter going first, but she had already been climbing down the ladder by the time he had caught up to her, leaving him with no other choice but to 'Deal with it,' as she had cheerfully told him when he had begun to protest.

"So tell me, what's going to happen to me?" Amy asked, trying to break through the silence that had settled over their little group as they concentrated on climbing, "And don't lie. Because I know when you're lying, Hatter's rubbish at it in this regeneration…" the Hatter sighed but didn't bother to say anything, again, "…and I will definitely fall on you both," she finished.

"Doctor, it's your turn," the Hatter called up to him, glancing down, pleased to start being able to finally see the bottom of the shaft.

The Doctor sighed loudly, "The air all around us is full of mico-machines," he began tiredly, just as the Hatter reached the bottom and jumped down, quickly looking around the corridor, but it seemed safe enough as he continued climbing down, "Robots the size of molecules. Nanogenes. Now that you're unprotected, you're being…re-written," he skipped the last two rungs to land beside the Time Lady, reaching out to take her hand as he quickly looked around the hallway, wary.

Amy jumped down too, "So, what happens?" she questioned, looking between them as they carefully looked around, frowning, "I get one of them things sticking out of my head?" she mimed something poking out of her forehead.

"You don't need to worry about the physical changes quite yet," the Hatter told her, reaching backwards with her free hand, grabbing her hand, "That will come later, though I don't imagine it will be very pleasant…" she winced slightly, glancing back to her, "Er, sorry".

Her eyes widened, tightening her grip on the brunet's hand as they began moving off down the narrow, dimly lit hallway, the Time Lords looking around carefully as they went, "What comes first?" she asked urgently, looking quite panicked, "How does it start?"

"Mentally and emotionally," the Time Lady replied, sighing heavily, the Doctor busy watching the hallway ahead of them, "Your feelings will start to…change, certain emotions will begin to fade while others will strengthen. In turn your memories will also fade, first short term memory is affected, followed by long term. Memories that have the strongest emotional link will be the last to go, but, Amy…" she brought them to a stop in the middle of the hallway, turning to look at her sadly, "You need to know this and I'm very sorry, but the process has already started".

"How do you know?"

The Doctor began leading them off again, "Because we've had this conversation four times," he told her, stopping again before a door, trying to see through the small, grime covered windows that ran along it in sections.

"Okay," Amy swallowed hard, coming to a stop, too, "Scared now".

"I know," the Hatter said softly, looking back to her gently, squeezing her hand comfortingly, "You would be a fool if you weren't, but scared is good, Amy. Hold onto that feeling because feeling that way tells you that you're still human, not Dalek," she gave her a broad smile and quickly planted a kiss onto Amy's forehead, making her blink slightly at the sudden gesture.

The Doctor looked back to the women, raising his eyebrows as the Hatter glanced at him, "Ready?" he nodded to the door before them.

She nodded, smiling again, "Possibly a room full of deranged Daleks awaiting us?" she shrugged carelessly, when inside her hearts were hammering and she was gladder then ever that Astra wasn't with them, but safe with Sarah Jane, probably having great fun trying to play with K-9 and letting Sky read Earth books to her. She gave him a wink, "It must be Wednesday, sweetheart".

He returned her smile, though slightly less bright then he would have liked, before they turned back to face the door, just as it began to slide upwards. They slowly and cautiously crept forward, trying to peer into the large, open room ahead of them, hearing the distant sound of Daleks shouting from somewhere within the room, but they all seemed to be out of sight right now.

"What's that?" Amy frowned, hearing the Daleks.

The Doctor sniffed the air briefly before they stepped back, letting the door slide back down, "Keep a look out," he turned to Amy, pointing at her firmly, "Don't open this door," he gave her a warning look before he and the Hatter turned, heading back down the hallway they had just walked down, leaving Amy by the door, "Oswin!" he called, retrieving his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket, flashing it around as they walked, "Can you hear me?"

"Hello, the chin and hat!" Oswin's cheerful voice called, coming from a speaker on a wall by their left, making them stop and turn towards it, seeing a small camera looking back at them, "I have visual on you".

"And yet we've yet to see you," the Hatter commented, eyeing the camera suspiciously. She wished she could trust Oswin, in the past she likely would have without question, just like she had with River, but after having Astra, she couldn't afford to be so trusting about people. She wanted to trust Oswin, so very badly, but she just couldn't risk it, not as a mother, "So, tell us, why haven't we seen you yet?" she raised her eyebrows, "Usually, we quite like to see who it is we're trying to help".

"Limited power," Oswin replied, not seeming to be overly concerned, "Bad hair, take your pick. There's a door to your left. Open it," the Time Lords glanced at each other before moving a bit further up the hallway, finding the door. The Doctor pulled it open, revealing a small alcove with a panel on the wall, a small screen on it and some circuitry, "I'm going to send you a map to that screen," she continued as they moved into the alcove, "I put your little friend somewhere safe. I can get you to him".

"Rory?" the Doctor said quickly as the Hatter broke into a delighted smile, "You found Rory?"

"I call him Nina. Personal thing. Hush now".

The Hatter laughed, shaking her head, very dearly hoping that Oswin could actually be trusted because she had a feeling that she and this young woman would have a great time together, though the Doctor wouldn't likely enjoy it, judging by his little nickname and the face he made every time Oswin says it.

"I'm not even going to ask…right now, anyway," the Time Lady smiled, forcing herself to grow serious again, "Now, tell us about the Daleks behind that door ahead of us. How many can we expect to be waiting in there?"

"Ten, twenty?" Oswin answered after a brief moment, sounding as if she might be frowning, "Hard to say…" the Doctor and the Hatter sighed, exchanging a glance, not overly pleased about the results, "Some of them are catatonic, but they _do_ have firepower".

"How do we get past them?" the Doctor wondered aloud, frowning deeply.

The Hatter sighed and took a step back out of the alcove, slowly turning on the spot, trying to think of some very clever plan that wouldn't end up getting them killed, "Well, I suppose we could try and stick to the sides of the room…" she began slowly, "Try and avoid…" she stopped suddenly, her eyes widening in horror as she caught sight of something down the hallway, "Amy! No, don't!"

The Doctor jumped and spun around, just in time to see Amy had opened the door and wondered into the room beyond, seeming to be quite dazed and unfocused. He and the Time Lady took off running, stopping in the doorway, but Amy had already walked several steps into the room, out of reach of them, seeming to be completely unaware of the fact that a number of Daleks now surrounded her.

"Amy!" he hissed urgently.

"Amy, please, come back…" the Hatter tried hurriedly, her eyes moving frantically between Amy and the Daleks, feeling sick seeing just how close Amy was to them and she didn't even know it.

"Shh," Amy hushed them, acting more like she was drunk than anything else, looking back to them with a hand held out towards them, "It's okay, it's just people in here," she whispered, turning back towards the room, "It's just people…"

"Amy, it's the nano-cloud," the Doctor told her, making her sigh loudly and roll her eyes, looking back over her shoulder to them, "It's altering your perception. Look again. Look again. Those aren't people".

Amy gave them a funny little smile, as if what he had just said was supposed to be a joke as she slowly turned back towards the room, only to suddenly gasp and give a little jump, apparently finally seeing the Daleks for what they truly were.

"Amy, stay calm and don't make a sound," the Hatter said firmly, keeping her voice low and steady. She carefully step forward, batting the Doctor's arm away as he tried to block her, but she kept edging closer to Amy, keeping her eyes on the Daleks, who had started turning in their direction, "Amy, I need you to take my hand…" Amy shook her head violently, trying to clear her head, when the Time Lady lunged forward and grabbed her hand, "Come on, run!"

Amy stumbled slightly, but didn't try and fight back as the Time Lady pulled her back towards the doorway, where the Doctor was watching, looking very pale and as if he might collapse after watching his wife place herself in such a dangerous position, but he managed to get a grip over himself and quickly ushered them through the doorway and back up the hallway, just as one of the Daleks began gliding after them. They ran back down towards the ladder, only to see it shaking, the dead crew climbing down after them.

"Look!" Amy cried, catching sight of the corpses, "They're coming down!"

The Doctor grabbed the ladder and looked up, "Er…oh, yes," he said a little weakly, "They are," he whirled back around, grabbing the Hatter's hand and turned to try heading back down the hallway, only to find the Dalek steadily moving towards them. He quickly moved himself in front of both women.

"Intruder!" the Dalek cried, moving towards them.

"In here!" the Hatter shouted, pulling the alcove door open and shoving Amy inside, following after her with the Doctor, pressed against the walls as they just barely squeezed in. She didn't know what hiding inside the space would accomplish, given that they were now even more trapped then before, but it had been the only thing she could think to do in the moment and hopefully, the Dalek was deranged enough to believe that they had escaped.

"Intruder!" it called again, "Intruder!" it tried firing its weapon, only nothing happened.

The Doctor and the Hatter frowned, glancing awkwardly at one another, since they were basically pressed together with the Time Lady's back against the Doctor's chest, listening carefully, but still, nothing happened. Carefully, the Doctor opened the door again and stepped out, peering around the edge of the door to the Dalek before stepping out fully into the hallway, the Hatter moving out into the open, too.

"It's damaged," the Doctor remarked, feeling a wave of relief wash over him, quickly throwing a look over his shoulder towards the still shaking ladder.

"Okay…" Amy said slowly, moving out of the alcove, looking worriedly to the Time Lords, "But what do we _do_?"

The Hatter hesitated, glancing at the Dalek and then to the Doctor, "I have an idea…"

"I think I'm having the same idea, dear," the Doctor muttered, meeting her eyes.

She sighed, closing her eyes tightly, "Oh, I really hope this works," she breathed, picturing Astra's face. She wanted more than anything to be able to hold Astra in her arms right now, to sit in the console and watch the Doctor cradling Astra as he tried teaching her different controls on the TARDIS console and what they did, more often than not getting them completely wrong himself, while Astra excitedly pointed out every control that she could see, so curious to know what they did, already desperate to try and fly the TARDIS as only a four month old. But to imagine bringing Astra into this mess with the Daleks surrounding them, they had definitely made the right choice not to bring her with them on this adventure. One day, Astra would have to face the Daleks, she wasn't so naive as to think it would never happen, but not today and not for as long as they could prevent it.

The Doctor looked back up to the Dalek, taking a deep breath, "Identify me," he ordered it, very dearly hoping that this plan would actually work and not…well, blow up in their faces. Literally, "Access your files. Who am I? Come on. Who's your daddy?"

"Ooh, I can think of one little girl who wouldn't be pleased hearing _that_ ," the Time Lady commented lightly, shooting the Doctor a small smile and nudging his side.

"You are the Predator," the Dalek announced, looking directly at the Doctor.

"Access your standing orders concerning the Predator," the Doctor told it.

"The Predator must be destroyed".

"And how are you going to do that, Dalek? Without a gun you're a tricycle with a roof! How are _you_ going to destroy _me_?"

An alarm began going off from inside the Dalek's casing, "Self-destruct initiated," it cried, and the Doctor quickly pulled the sonic screwdriver back out of his pocket, flashing it at the Dalek, the casing already so badly damaged that even the sonic could break through the shielding, disabling it from the outside.

"What's it doing?" Amy asked urgently, her eyes widening nervously.

"Oh, it's just going to blow itself up in the hopes of killing the Doctor," the Hatter replied with a shrug, apparently not the slightest bit worried about it as she moved forward, grabbing the edge of the Daleks head and lifting it up, peering down into the casing, "It's desperate, you see," she continued as she stuck her hand into the casing, grimacing slightly, "Blowing its self up is the last weapon it has left…" she grinned suddenly, laughing.

"Self-destruct cannot be countermanded!"

The Hatter smirked wider as she closed the lid back down, wiping her hands together, "Oh, but that wasn't my intention at all," she leaned into the eyestalk, "What I was actually doing was looking for the reverse switch…" she stepped back and gave the Dalek a mocking wave as the Dalek began gliding backwards, "Bye!"

"Forwards!" it shouted, moving rapidly backwards as the Time Lords watched on, smirking, "Forwards! Forwards! Forwards!"

It whizzed back into the room with the other Daleks, but the moment it collided with another Dalek it exploded in a massive fireball, destroying all of the rest of them. The Doctor and the Hatter grabbed Amy, pushing her back into the alcove, shielding themselves from the worst of the explosion.

…

Rory flinched as the room that Oswin had guided him to shook badly, sending dust into the air. He froze on the spot as the shaking started to settle, looking around warily.

"Oswin?" he called worriedly, looking up towards the little camera on the side of the room, "What was that? That was close."

He didn't wait to hear her response, running back out of the room and down the short hallway, back into the room that he had found himself in when he had first woken up from the gravity beam, surrounded by Daleks that had all began waking up after he had accidently tripped on a piece of metal. He blinked, however, at the sight of the room now, slowly turning around on the spot, the air filled with smoke and dust, while all around he could see the smoking and charred remains of the Daleks, most of them now missing the top half of their casing. This was definitely the place that the explosion had come from, taking out all of the Daleks, by the looks of it.

"Oswin?" he looked up towards the ceiling, ignoring the horrible smell in the air, "What happened? Who killed all the Daleks?" he frowned, shaking his head.

Three figures emerged from out of the smoke ahead of him, making him look up, his eyes widening at the sight of the Doctor walking towards him from the other side of the room, covered in black soot and carrying an unconscious Amy in his arms, while the Hatter strolled along beside him, her face covered with soot and her hat smoking slightly.

The Doctor simply looked at him, raising his eyebrows, "Who do you think?"

"Okay, it's official," the Hatter smiled widely, looking at the Doctor, "That has to be one of the top five best entrances, to date…" she sighed, reaching up to pluck her hat off her head, looking at it sadly, "To bad my hat's a bit worse for wear of it, though".

Rory stared at them for a moment, "Amy!" he cried, running towards them, reaching out to touch her face.

"She's just having a little rest," the Doctor reassured him, exchanging a grim look with the Time Lady, "Which is probably for the best…"

….

Rory led the Time Lords back to the safe room that Oswin had apparently helped to guide him to, while the Time Lady explained to him all about the nano-cloud and what had happened to Amy, trying to soften the news as much as she possibly could as they walked, Rory listening carefully. The room that Rory had been hiding out in had a number of thick wires hanging down from the ceiling, while in the very centre of the room a large circular platform stood, the Time Lords indentifying it immediately as a teleport pad. As they arrived in the room, the Doctor carefully sat Amy down onto the teleport as they gathered around her, still unconscious from the strain of her body trying to fight against the nanogenes infecting her mind.

"Will sleeping help her?" Rory asked them, leaning over Amy, gently touching her hair, "Will it slow down the process?"

"You'd better hope so," Oswin's voice came over the speaker, making them look back over to the small camera on the wall behind them, "Because pretty soon, she's going to try and kill you".

The Hatter winced slightly, glancing over Amy to Rory, "Not really helping, Oswin," she muttered, trying to give him a comforting smile.

Amy suddenly gave a pained groan, making the three of them quickly turn back to her, leaning over her as she grimaced, waking up.

"Amy," the Doctor said softly, reaching out to lightly touch the side of her face.

"Ow…!"

"Amy," he smiled faintly, and seeing his chance, carefully slipped his wristband off and clicking it around Amy's wrist, knowing that the nanogenes wouldn't hurt him or the Hatter. His eyes flickered up to catch the Hatter's eyes watching him with a knowing look and he gave her a quick wink, before looking back down to Amy, "Still with us," he said happily.

"Amy," Rory said quietly, leaning closer to her, "It's me. Do you remember me?" he asked, when Amy suddenly slapped him, making his head whip back. He winced painfully as the Doctor and the Hatter grinned, struggling not to laugh, "She remembers me".

The Hatter gave up trying to resist against giggling, "Well, at least we know it's still Amy," she commented happily, watching Rory touch his cheek.

"Do you know how you make someone into a Dalek?" Oswin's voice came over again, sounding soft, distant, "Subtract love, add anger. Doesn't she seem a bit _too_ angry to you?"

"Well," Amy huffed, rolling her eyes as she sat up slightly, glaring up at the camera, "Somebody's never been to Scotland!"

The Doctor stood, frowning up at the camera, "What about you, though, Oswin?" he eyed the camera, "How come you're okay? Why hasn't the nano-cloud converted you?"

"I mentioned the genius thing, yeah? Shielded in here".

"Fascinating," the Hatter said lightly, though she was looking at the camera with a small frown as she climbed onto her feet. Once again she had that feeling, the feeling that things just didn't add up when it came to this woman, "You'll have to explain to us how you did that exactly," she glanced at the Doctor, who gave her a small nod, both silently agreeing that Oswin truly didn't make any sense.

"Now, this place," the Doctor gestured his hand around the room, turning back to the camera, "The Daleks said it was fully automated, but look at it. It's a wreck".

"Well, I've had nearly a year to mess with them," Oswin replied, "And not a lot to do".

He narrowed his eyes on the camera, while the Hatter crossed her arms across her chest, "A Junior Entertainment Manger hiding out in a wrecked ship," he began, glancing back to the Time Lady, "Hacking the security systems of the most advanced warrior race the Universe has ever seen. But…!" he held up a finger, turning back to the camera, "You know what really gets us about you, Oswin?"

"The soufflés," the Hatter remarked, making Amy and Rory give them both a strange look.

"Exactly, dear!" he pointed at her, before looking back up to the camera, "Where do you get milk for the soufflés?" he paused, looking back over to Amy and Rory, who were watching them with confused expressions, "Seriously. Is no one but the Hatter and I wondering about that?"

"No," Rory shook his head, holding out his hands briefly, looking a little annoyed, "Frankly, no. _Twice_ ".

The Doctor and the Hatter frowned at him, a little surprised by his tone. Rory didn't usually react like that, so quick to cut them off. The Hatter couldn't blame him, though, she could see how badly he was taking the separation from Amy, they were both barely keeping it together and yet trying so hard to act as if they were okay, but they weren't fooling them. Her hearts broke just a little bit watching the two of them and knowing the truth, unable to do or say anything to try and make things better because she had promised Amy, and she never broke a promise. Sometimes, in moments like these, she really did wish she could, but if she didn't honour her own word, then how could she expect people to trust their lives to her hands when she told them that she would help them. That, and it was one of the few lessons that she had taken from her father from when she was a little girl, he had always used to tell her that one should never make a promises or give their word unless they meant to keep it. Well, he had also said that you should always make sure you have a loop hole so that you could get out of it, but he was a politician and she had chosen to ignore that part, though perhaps she should have considered it more when she had made this promise to Amy.

"So, Doctor and Hatter," Oswin spoke again, making them blink and turn back to the camera, "I've been looking you up. You're both all over the database. Why do the Daleks call you 'The Predator,' Doctor?"

"I'm not the Predator," the Doctor told her, smiling slightly up at the camera, "I'm just a man with a plan and a very clever wife to help me carry it out".

"Hello, that's me," the Hatter grinned, wiggling her fingers up at the camera, making him look at her fondly, "Though, in fairness, the plan is half mine…" she added with a pointed look in his direction, lowering her hand.

"Wait," Oswin cut in before the Doctor could respond, sounding quite excited, "You've got a plan?"

"We're all ears," Rory sighed, holding out his arms expectantly.

Amy held up a finger, "There's a nose joke going if someone wants to pick that one off".

"Don't be rude, Amy," the Hatter scolded her lightly, knowing perfectly well that Amy didn't really mean it; she was just…trying to drive Rory further away.

"In no particular order," the Doctor said, turning back around to face Amy and Rory, "We need to neutralise all the Daleks in this Asylum, rescue Oswin from the wreckage, escape from this planet, and fix Amy and Rory's marriage…" he looked down to the humans, smiling happily.

"Okay," Amy said dryly, looking back up to them, "I'm counting three lost causes. Anyone else?"

The Hatter shot her a quick frown, while Rory gritted his teeth and slapped his hand against his knee, climbing onto his feet, "There's no need for the attitude," she said sternly to Amy, her eyes flickering over to Rory, concerned. She sighed heavily as Amy avoided her eyes, turning back to the camera, "Oswin," she sighed tiredly, "I don't suppose you've been able to pick up the Dalek ship that's currently in orbit of this planet?"

"Yeah," Oswin answered, "Got it on the sensors".

"The Asylum has a force field," the Doctor informed her, reaching out to take the Hatter's hand, "The Daleks upstairs are waiting for us to turn it off. Soon as we do…" he glanced back to the Hatter, wincing slightly before he continued, "They'll burn this whole world and us with it. So!" he clapped his hands together, brightening slightly, "Oswin, our question is this: how fast can you drop the force field?"

Amy and Rory blinked, looking over to them in confusion.

"Pretty fast," Oswin said after a brief pause, "But why would I?"

"This is a teleport, am I right?" the Hatter pointed back over her shoulder with her thumb towards the circular platform in the middle of the room, not needing Oswin to confirm it for her. She already knew since the moment they stepped into the room what it was, so she continued before Oswin had a chance to speak, "And, from a brief glance at it…" she let go of the Doctor's hand to move closer to the platform, hopping up onto it, looking through the glass to the circuitry beneath it, "I'm going to say that it's meant for internal use".

"Yeah," she confirmed, sounding surprised, while the Doctor smiled proudly, "How did you know that?"

"Well, like you, I'm very clever," she replied with a shrug, winking back at the camera, before growing serious as she looked back down at the teleport, "Now, if we were to boost the power on this teleport…"

The Doctor pulled the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket, moving to kneel on the glass of the platform, flashing the sonic through it, "Then once the force field is down, we can use it to beam us right off this planet," he finished, straightening to turn the sonic up onto the machinery above the teleport pad.

Rory frowned, looking a worriedly between the Time Lords, "You said when the force field is down, the Daleks will _blow us up_ ," he reminded them, staring at them as if they had gone completely mad.

"We'll have to be quick, yes," he agreed, turning back to them, smiling calmly.

"Fine, we'll be quick," Amy said quickly, shaking her head, "But where do we beam to?"

"Ah, yes…." the Hatter looked up from where she had been carefully looking through the glass of the platform, "Now, don't get panicked, but there's only really one place that we can go that's within range…which happens to be the Dalek ship".

Both human's eyes widened, "They'll exterminate us on the spot!" Amy hissed, unable to believe that _this_ was their great plan.

Rory closed his eyes, releasing a long breath, "Ah, so this is the kind of escape plan where you survive about four second longer," he muttered with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, opening his eyes.

"What's wrong with four seconds?" the Doctor asked them, shrugging flippantly as he looked back to the Hatter, who was smiling faintly, "You can do loads in four seconds, right, dear?"

"Sure, though nothing springs to mind right now…" the Hatter trailed off with a small frown, mainly humouring him, though she actually was trying to come up with something that didn't include breathing as something that you can do within four seconds. She shook her head, trying to focus, "But never mind that right now," she gave Amy and Rory a comforting look, "I told you not to panic, I ought to be able to direct the beam into the TARDIS, rather than the actual ship, with the Doctor's help, of course".

"I'm good at teleports," the Doctor grinned, rubbing his hands together, quite excited with the prospect of working on a teleport with the Hatter. He loved it when they got to work on a piece of technology together, it gave him a good insight into how the Hatter's mind worked, what made her tick. He looked back up towards the camera, "Oswin!" he called, "How fast can you drop the force field?"

"I can do it from here," Oswin told them, "As soon as you come and get me".

He frowned suspiciously and looked at the Hatter, before turning to face the camera, "No, just drop the force field and come to us," he said, shaking his head, wondering if there was another reason for why Oswin wanted them to come to _her_.

"There's enough power in that teleport for one go. Why would you wait for me?"

The Hatter glanced at the Doctor, confused, "And why wouldn't we wait for you?" she questioned, genuinely puzzled as to why Oswin thought they would just leave her when they had done nothing to make her think that they would in the first place.

"No idea. Never met you. Sending you a map so you can come get me".

The Doctor exchanged a quick look with the Time Lady, before moving off to the side of the room to where a monitor screen was on the wall to look at the map that Oswin was sending through. The Hatter eyed the camera for a moment longer, feeling quite sorry for the girl, imagining now just how terrified she probably was that they would leave her behind and she supposed that it was true, Oswin didn't know them, didn't know that they would never leave someone behind when they needed help. She dragged her eyes off the camera and moved to jump down from the platform, stretching her fingers until they cracked, knowing that it was going to be quite tight work, but she fortunately had very little hands in this regeneration, so she shouldn't have to much trouble. She knelt on the floor and reached beneath the teleport pad, blindly reaching for the wires she was searching for, wanting to get things ready for when they likely would have to make a quick exit.

Rory climbed onto his feet, moving to stand on the edge of the teleport pad, "This place is crawling with Daleks," he remarked, looking up to the camera, not really liking the idea of going for a stroll around the Asylum.

"Yeah," Oswin agreed, "Kind of why I'm anxious to leave. Come up and see me sometime," she ended the connection.

He actually looked like he might consider the slightly flirty reply, until he noticed the Hatter eyeing him with a narrowed eyed look, missing completely the glare on Amy's face behind his back. He quickly cleared his throat and shook his head, glancing back over towards where the Doctor was checking the monitor screen, "So, are we going to go get her?" he asked the Time Lords, keeping his voice low.

The Hatter shoot him a quick look, climbing back onto her feet, pulling a piece of machinery out from within the teleport pad that was connected by a thick piece of wire, "Of course we are," she said at once, though she had to admit that she wasn't any keener on the idea then Rory likely was, but she couldn't leave without trying to rescue Oswin. No one deserved to be left like that, surrounded by Daleks, "We don't leave people behind when they need help," she went on firmly, "Especially not when they've helped us so much in return".

"Okay," the Doctor spun around from the screen, hurrying up onto the teleport pad, grabbing the Hatter's hand, "As soon as the force field is down, the Daleks will attack," he told the humans, looking at them very seriously, "If it gets to explody-wody in here, you go without us, okay?"

'Explody-wody?' the Hatter mouthed to Amy, who looked close to smiling. She shook her head and handed the device that was connected to the teleport to Rory, who took it with a slightly confused look.

"And leave you two to die?" Rory frowned deeply, startled, "But…what about Astra?"

"She's safe," the Time Lady said quickly, giving him a small smile as the Doctor moved to squeeze himself beneath the teleport pad, trying very hard not to let his eyes wonder over to the Hatter and her skirt, "Don't worry about her, or us, for that matter. You're the ones who are going to have to possibly teleport into a Dalek ship".

"Fair point," he nodded, "Love this plan," he muttered sarcastically.

The Hatter laughed and pattered his arm reassuringly, kneeling down by the edge of the glass, watching the Doctor fiddling with the wires through the glass, though she wasn't worried. The Doctor was quite talented when it came to teleports, she would even say that he was possibly on her level when it came to them, though she had more experience fixing broken teleports than anything else. It was a part of her duties on Gallifrey and she even built one of two from scratch, though at the time she had been rather offended that she was being ordered to do it, since she felt like she was being treated more like an over qualified janitor.

"Hatter," Rory frowned again, drawing the Time Lady's attention back to him, "What about Amy?" he glanced over towards Amy, who was sitting on the edge of the platform.

"Keep her remembering; keep her focused," the Doctor called up through the glass before the brunet had a chance to speak, plugging a cable in as he laid on his back, "That'll hold back the conversion".

Amy huffed, looking annoyed, "What do I do?"

The Hatter turned to her as the Doctor pulled himself back out from beneath the teleport pad, "Oswin's right," she said, reaching out to touch Amy's arm, "To make a Dalek you have to remove all ability to understand and feel love, Amy," her eyes flickered between her and Rory, "Whatever you do, whatever you _need_ to do, don't let that happen".

Amy frowned slightly, swallowing hard as she watched the Doctor reach out and take the Hatter's hand, together leaving the room.

….

The Doctor and the Hatter carefully crept through the hallways of the Asylum, pausing every now and again in the shadows, listening to the sound of the Daleks in the distance, reminding them just how dangerous this whole situation truly was.

"Emergency!" a Dalek cried out, its voice echoing down the hallway to them as they stopped by a corner, peering around it down the corridor, "Emergency! Prepare to be annihilated!" the Time Lords exchanged a wary look and slowly began to walk down the corridor, "Emergency! We are the Daleks! We are the Daleks…!"

"Doctor," the Hatter whispered, clutching his hand tighter, her hearts racing so fast that it actually made her feel a little faint.

"Yeah?"

"I love you".

He smiled, releasing a small, breathless laugh, "I love you, too," he brought them to a stop in the middle of the hallway to look at her, his expression softening as he took in her pale, worried face. He reached out to lightly touch her soot covered cheek, running his thumb over her cheek bone, "Always".

She returned his smile, "Well…good," she nodded, desperately trying to find something to distract herself with from what was going on around them. The Daleks, if there was one race in the Universe that she feared and hated more than any other, it was them, possibly almost in equal measure, "That's good to know," she rambled slightly, "Not that I ever doubt it, of course, sweetheart, it's just that…"

"Hatter," he cut across her, not taking his hand off her cheek, "It's going to be okay, I promise," he leaned forward, lightly pressing a kiss to her lips before pulling back far too quickly for his liking, but they still had work to do.

The Hatter sighed, closing her eyes briefly, "I just…I can't stop thinking about Astra and what would happen if we never came back to her," she admitted, feeling slightly better for finally saying it aloud. She wouldn't have said it in front of Amy or Rory, she didn't want to frighten them even more by showing them just how truly terrified she was, but she knew that the Doctor knew. They had been together for far too long for her to be able to hide something like that from him, or he in turn from her.

"That's never going to happen," the Doctor said firmly, squeezing her hand as he slowly start to lead them off again down the hallway, struggling against the tightness in his chest that had formed at the reminder of their baby girl being raised by someone else. They had managed to overcome all of that month's ago when they had thought they would die, but to think that it might happen again…it broke his hearts, "We're going to get out of this, like we always do, and then we'll see Astra again, I swear".

"I'll be holding you to that promise, Doctor. You know how seriously I take them".

He shot her a fond grin, "Oh, trust me, I know," he told her, in fact it was something he had always quite admired about her, her code of honour as he liked to think of it. She meant it when she promised something and would do everything within her power to keep it, and so often that was a rare thing to come across when they had to deal with people who would lie and cheat just to survive. He paused slightly as he noticed a camera on the wall they were just passing, reaching up with his free hand to straighten his bow tie, smirking slightly as they continued moving passed, "Speaking of promises…" he glanced back to her, raising his eyebrows, "I suppose you can't tell me what's really going on with Amy?"

The Hatter gave him a quick look, "I've told you before, I made a promise not to speak of it," she said, her expression growing blank of all emotion, wishing that she could just come out and tell him the truth, which was that Amy couldn't have children.

Amy had been desperate and had tried to come to her for help, but testing had found that it was completely impossible for Amy to ever be able to have a healthy child, even in the very tiny chance that she might be able to fall pregnant with a great deal of medical intervention, but the risk to her own body would be simply too much. Perhaps if there was only one reason for her inability to conceive, then the Hatter would have been able to help her, but that wasn't the case and with both medical conditions overlapping with one another, all that she could do was to help her to manage to the symptoms. Amy had been devastated by the news, believing that she had now trapped Rory within a marriage that would never make him truly happy because he had always wanted to have children, and so the separation had happened, all because Amy believed it was what was best for Rory without revealing the true reason behind it, against the Hatter's desperate attempts to try and convince her otherwise. The Hatter had tried to get her to see reason, to try and make her stop and take a step back when she was still reeling from the news that she couldn't have children, but Amy had been completely convinced that she was doing what was best for Rory and the Hatter had been forced to bite her tongue, unable to do anything to try and warn Rory.

"But…"

"Please," the Time Lady cut him off, holding up her free hand, "Doctor, don't ask me again. I can't speak of it, I promised Amy. Don't push me any more on this".

The Doctor closed his mouth and nodded, giving her an apologetic look. He wanted to know, he couldn't try and help unless he fully knew what was going on, but he wouldn't go against the Hatter and try and push her into telling him, no matter how concerned he might be. He trusted her completely and he also knew just how serious she was. Besides, trying to get her to talk or tricking her into saying anything would only end up getting her angry with him and that was something he really didn't want.

"I'm sorry," he squeezed her hand gently, "I won't ask again," the Hatter looked at him and smiled, making him brighten slightly. He turned and led them around a corner, looking down the new hallway to see a door at the end, "Oswin," he called quietly as they moved down towards the door, "I think we're close".

"You are," Oswin's voice came over the speaker system, "Less than twenty feet away…" she paused briefly, her voice growing softer, "Which is the good news…"

"Why do I suddenly have a very bad feeling?" the Hatter asked worriedly, glancing at the Doctor.

"You're about to pass through Intensive Care".

The door slid up as the Time Lords exchanged a quick look, slowly stepping over the threshold and further into the room, trying to keep their footsteps as light as possible as they looked around the room. Several fenced off cells, more like stalls then anything, had been set up along both sides of the room, each one containing a rather dirty and battered looking Dalek, some even chained up with thick, heavy metal links. None of the Daleks moved as they crept carefully along the cells, looking at them as they passed.

"What's so special about this lot, then?" the Doctor asked quietly, clutching the Hatter's hand tighter.

"Don't know," Oswin replied, "Survivors of particular wars. Spiridon…" the Doctor and the Hatter's footsteps faltered slightly, looking at each other quickly, instantly recognising the planet's name from their Third bodies, "…Kembel, Eridius, Vulcan, Exxilon. Ringing any bells?"

"All of them," he breathed, looking around at the Daleks in a completely new light.

The Hatter grimaced slightly, "Same, save for one," she remarked softly, sighing. She had been there on all of the adventures, save for that one, and remembered each one vividly, "Kembel," she glanced back to the Doctor, "I was still living on Gallifrey during that adventure".

"How do you know them?" Oswin questioned curiously, listening.

The Time Lords stopped before one of the Daleks, staring at it grimly, "These are the Daleks who survived us," the Doctor told her, swallowing as he looked back to the Hatter.

"Doc…tor…" one of the Daleks said slowly, starting to wake, making the Time Lords instantly tense. They turned towards the voice, finding one of the Daleks staring back at them, "Hat…tor…"

"Doctor!" another called, "Hatter!"

"Doctor!" the room was suddenly filled with more and more shouts as the other Daleks began waking up, too, "Hatter! Doctor! Hatter…"

The Doctor and the Hatter moved closer to each other, looking around widely, growing more and more alarmed. These were the Daleks that they had fought before, the one's they had defeated and apparently broken so badly that they wound up in this place, and now they were stuck inside a room, surrounded by them.

"That's weird," Oswin's voice sounded over the Daleks, "Those ones don't usually wake up for anything".

"Yeah, well," the Doctor said weakly, wishing that he had made the Hatter stay with Amy and Rory when he had the chance, though he knew she would never have gone along with it, "Special visitors".

"We need to get out of here," the Hatter breathed, tugging the Doctor's hand, pulling him over towards where she could see a heavy, metal door at the very back of the room, trying hard to ignore all of the eyes of the Daleks, "Oswin, we're at the door but…" she frowned, reaching out to touch the smooth metal surface, looking for something to open it, "It's not opening".

The Doctor pulled the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket, flashing it around the edges of the door, "We can't be far away, though…" he added, trying to get the door to open.

"Hang on," Oswin told them quickly, "Er…not quite sure. There's a release code. Let me just…anything happening out there?"

The Hatter threw a quick, nervous look over her shoulder, "No, nothing".

"Hang on; I'm trying a thing…"

The Doctor continued trying to open the door, while the Hatter watched him, when a funny grinding noise sounded behind them and she froze, reaching out to grab the Doctor's arm, making him stop, too. Slowly, they turned around, watching in horror as the Daleks began pulling against the chains holding them all around the room.

"Doc…tor…" one of the Daleks spoke as it pulled against the chains, "Hat…tor…"

"Oh, please…no…" the Hatter breathed weakly, feeling her knees weakening as she realised that those chains weren't going to hold them back for much longer, not when the metal was already weakened by rust. The realisation had barely hit her before the chains snapped and broke away from the wall, setting the Daleks free.

"Doctor!" the Daleks chanted together, gliding towards them, "Hatter!"

"Oswin, get this door open!" the Doctor called urgently, terror starting to grip him as the Daleks advanced on them, "Oswin, open this door!"

"I can't!" Oswin cried.

"Oswin, please!" the Hatter practically begged, flattening herself completely against the door, looking back and forth at the Daleks that were closing in on them from all sides, but it wasn't herself that she was afraid for, her mind was on Astra, "Please, get this door open! Oswin, please!"

"Oswin!" the Doctor shouted desperately, wrapping his arms around the Hatter, hugging her to him, his back to the Daleks as he felt her press her face into his neck. If they were about to die…they would do it together, "Oswin, please!" he cried, closing his eyes tightly, feeling the Hatter trembling with terror in his arms, "Get this door open! Help us!"

"Doctor…!" the Daleks said in unison, still moving in on them, "Hatter!"

The Hatter squeezed her eyes shut, gripping the Doctor's back so tightly that her fingers hurt and she likely left bruises on his back, while the Doctor held her just as tightly, still trying to shield her against the Daleks, even though they both knew that it was over, they were going to die…when nothing happened. The room suddenly fell silent, all the chanting fading completely, the only sound coming from their gasping breathes and hammering hearts pounding in their ears. Slowly, the Hatter opened her eyes and lifted her head from the Doctor's neck, staring in confusion and shock as the Daleks, barely two inches away from them, suddenly turned and glided away from them, acting as if they weren't even there.

"What…?" she gasped, loosening her hold on the Doctor, who carefully did the same to her, turning around to see for himself what had just happened.

"Oh, that is _cool_ ," Oswin laughed, sounding as if she was grinning proudly, "Tell me I'm cool, chin boy, hat girl".

"What…" the Doctor blinked, his eyes wide, "What did you do?"

"Hang on; I think I've found the door thingy…"

"No, Oswin," the Hatter shook her head, a note of urgency in her voice, needing to know because there was only one way that Oswin could have possibly have made the Daleks suddenly ignore them and the only way that she could have done that meant something terrible, worse then she had previously imagined, "Tell us what you did, explain it".

"The Daleks, they have a hive mind. Well, they don't, they have a sort of telepathic web…"

"It's called the path web," the Time Lady commented, feeling her hearts sinking, sensing that her worst fears about Oswin were right.

"I hacked into it, did a mass delete on all information connected with the Doctor and the Hatter".

The Doctor blinked slowly, looking shocked, "You made them forget us?"

"Good, eh? And here comes the door".

The door began to slide open behind them, but neither the Doctor, nor the Hatter turned around, the Time Lady feeling sick, knowing what they would find, having finally worked it out.

"I've tried hacking into the path web," the Doctor told Oswin, looking up at the camera, "So has the Hatter. Even _we_ couldn't do it".

"Come and meet the girl who can".

The Hatter glanced at the Doctor, who met her eyes, the same horrifying realisation finally seeming to be dawning on his face. She swallowed, feeling ill just imagining it and nodded to him, both knowing that there was only one possible way to hack into the path web and that was by already being a _part_ of it. Slowly, they began to turn around to see a Dalek chained up in the middle of a completely white room, but no young, cheeky woman, just a Dalek.

"Hey, you're right outside," Oswin's voice sounded from the comm. outside the room, but within the room it was the Dalek who spoke, raspy and sharp. The Hatter closed her eyes tightly, ducking her head sadly, "Come on in".

"Oswin," the Doctor began quietly, staring at the Dalek, his voice flat, "We have a problem".

"No, we don't," the Dalek replied, using Oswin's words, "Don't even say that. Joined the Alaska to see the Universe, ended up stuck in a shipwreck first time out. Rescue me, chin boy, hat girl, and show me the stars!"

"Does it look real to you?" he asked, while the Hatter took a deep breath and opened her eyes, feeling her hearts breaking for Oswin. To have this happen to her, it was unimaginable that a race could be so cruel that they would do such a thing, but that was the Daleks. Their cruelty knew no bounds.

"Does what look real?"

"Where you are right now, does it seem real?"

"It _is_ real".

"No, it isn't," the Hatter shook her head, looking at the Dalek sadly, seeing passed the Dalek amour and the metal to the young girl that had been forced into that cage against her will. She never thought she would feel her hearts breaking for a Dalek, but Oswin had been an innocent, how could she possibly hate her when none of what had happened to her was her fault? She was a Dalek, yes, but mentally…she was still so very _human_ , "I'm so sorry, Oswin, truly," she took a step forward, though she still held the Doctor's hand behind her, "Words cannot express how sorry I am for you, but you've dreamed up a world inside your head because the truth is simply to horrifying and terrible for your brain to be able to comprehend".

"Where…am…I?" the Dalek asked, sounding, for the very first time that either Time Lord had known a Dalek, truly afraid, "Where…am…I? Where…am…I?" it cried out.

The Doctor's expression harded, stepping up beside the Time Lady, "Because you are a Dalek," he finished through gritted teeth, finding it a great deal harder to see beyond the Dalek's surface then the Hatter.

"I am not a Dalek!" it shouted, "I am not a Dalek! I am _human_!"

"Yes, you _were_ ," the Hatter agreed gently, letting go of the Doctor's hand to move across to the Dalek, reaching out to place her hand against the metal lid, right by the side of its eyestalk as she imagined a human's face might be, "When you first crash landed here, you were very human, but then when you climbed out of your pod…that must be when they got you, trapping you inside this metal shell".

"That ladder we climbed down," the Doctor said slowly, glancing at the Time Lady, "That must have been her ladder".

"I'm human…" the Dalek insisted.

"Not anymore," the Doctor sighed, coming to stand behind the Time Lady, reaching out to lightly touch her waist, "Because you're right. You're a genius. And the Daleks need genius. They didn't make you a puppet, they did a full conversion".

"Oh, Oswin…" the Hatter murmured, closing her eyes, letting her forehead lightly fall against the lid of the Dalek, "We're so, so sorry for what has happened to you, and I so wish we could fix this…" she sniffed slightly, feeling the urge to cry for the girl who had been so cruelly changed in such an unspeakable way, and lifted her head to look into the eyestalk, "But there's nothing we can do, not this time. You're a Dalek, though the process seems to have gone a bit off," she shook her head, looking thoughtful, "You must have fought against it. It's incredible, really, how human you truly are. More human than most human's, in fact".

"Think about the milk, Oswin," the Doctor reminded it, still struggling to see passed the Dalek outside, "The milk and the eggs for the soufflés. Where, where did it all come from?"

"Eggs," the Dalek said slowly, its voice growing slightly softer, "Eggs…"

"It wasn't real," he continued, shaking his head, "It was _never_ real".

"Eggs…" it spoke again, making the Time Lady frown slightly and take a step back, sensing something was off, that something in the air had changed, "…stir…min…ate…" its gun arm began to twitch.

The Hatter's hearts began beating harder and the Doctor pulled her back towards him, eyeing the Dalek warily, too, "Oswin?" she asked nervously, glancing at the gun, "Oswin, talk to us, what's going on?"

"Eggs…stir…min...ate. Exterminate!" it cried, starting to strain against the thick metal chains holding it in place.

"Oswin, no!" the Doctor called quickly, holding up a hand as the Hatter's eyes widened in alarm. He tried to move in front of her, seeing the Dalek still trying to pull against the chains, "No, no, no! Oswin! Oswin!"

"Exterminate!" the Dalek managed to break free from the chains, advancing on them as they backed back up against the closed door behind them.

"Oswin, please, don't do this!" the Hatter tried desperately, finding her back falling back against the door, staring over the Doctor's shoulder to the Dalek as it neared them, the Doctor still trying to block her, "Oswin, just think about what you're doing!" she half-pleaded, hoping that they might still be able to get through to her, "You helped us, you saved our friends life, you don't _really_ want to kill us after all the hard work you've done to get us here!"

"Exterminate! Exterminate!"

"Oswin!" the Doctor held his arms out on either side of him, just trying to shield the Hatter, "Oswin!"

"Oswin, please!" the Hatter half-begged, thinking about Astra as tears filled her eyes, "If there's any trace of humanity inside you, please don't do this! Please, we have a daughter, she's only four months old, don't do this!"

The Dalek suddenly stopped and let out a horrible cry, sobbing and whimpering as the Doctor and the Hatter stared at it in shock, frozen in place. The Hatter wasn't sure what had happened, if the plea to not kill them for Astra's sake had worked or not, but as she listened to the Daleks metallic whimpering, she felt her hearts go out for it all over again. Absently, she used her cuff to wipe her eyes and gently touched the Doctor's arm, lowering it so that she could step forward, hesitating slightly before reaching out to place her hand on the side of the Dalek's casing.

"Oswin…it's okay," she said softly, glancing back to the Doctor, who was watching with a look between worry and fondness. She gently pattered the casing the Dalek continued to cry, half wanting to reach out and wrap her arms around it in a hug, something she never imagined she would ever feel like doing to a _Dalek_ , "Shh…" she hushed gently, "Shh…"

"Why do they hate you so much?" the Dalek asked, it's crying settling down as its eyestalk moved between them, "They hate you both so much, even your daughter. Why?"

"We fought them," the Doctor told it, glancing at the Hatter, "Many, _many_ times".

"We have grown stronger in fear of you both".

The Hatter sighed, closing her eyes sadly, "Oh, believe me, we know".

The Doctor looked down briefly, "We tried to stop," he said softly.

"Then run," the Dalek said after a moment.

The Time Lords looked back to it, startled, "What did you say?" he asked, looking shocked.

"I've taken down the force field. The Daleks above have begun their attack. Run!"

The Hatter stared at it, lowering her hand, "Oswald…" she began, frowning slightly as the door behind them began to rise behind them, "Are you…"

"I am Oswin Oswald. I fought the Daleks and I _am_ human! Remember me".

"Oh, Oswald," the Hatter breathed, breaking into a grin, "We're never going to forget you!" she laughed, and lunged forward to quickly hug the Dalek, which was slightly awkward, given its shape, before she was moving back to the Doctor's side, who grabbed her hand.

The Doctor smiled back to the Dalek, "Thank you," he said sincerely.

"Run!" the Dalek shouted, just as the sound of explosions going off sounded from somewhere above them, making the Time Lords look up quickly. They exchanged a hurried look before glancing at the Dalek, the Time Lady giving it one last smile before they dashed out of the door, hearing as they left, "Run, you clever boy and girl. And remember…"

The Hatter's footsteps faltered slightly and she frowned slightly, throwing a quick look over her shoulder, but the Doctor was already tugging on her arm and she didn't have time to dwell on it any longer, turning to keep up with him as they raced back through Intensive Care and out through the hallways of the Asylum, thankfully not coming across any Daleks as they ran. The explosions were still going off from somewhere above their heads, making the walls shake and dust and sparks fly into the air, but they kept on running. They finally reached the teleport room and skidded through the doorway as it opened for them, just avoiding a burst of flames that exploded from behind them.

"Right, go!" the Doctor called as they ran up to the teleport pad, jumping up onto the platform, where Rory and Amy were already standing, wrapped up in each other's arms, "Let's go! We're good, let's go!" he paused, pulling a slight face as he finally noticed Amy and Rory busy…kissing, completely oblivious to everything else going on behind around them, "Ew, is this what it's like to live with us, dear?" he looked at the Hatter.

The Hatter smiled, shaking her head, "Just be grateful their marriage is back on track," she said brightly, delighted to see that their little plan to make Rory and Amy actually talk had worked.

The Doctor blinked and did a double take as he looked back over to the still kissing couple, before breaking into a wide smile and turning back to the Hatter, ignoring the large explosion that went off by the door, "Oh!" he held up his hand and the Hatter, laughing, high fived him back before he turned back to the couple, sighing slightly as some of the happiness faded as another explosion went off, shaking the whole room, reminding him that they really did need to get off this planet _before_ it was destroyed, "Oh, for God's sake!" he grumbled, grabbing the teleport control out of Rory's arms, since he didn't seem to be about to use it, and hit a button on the controls, while the couple continued kissing.

….

The Doctor and the Hatter grinned at each other as they stood before the TARDIS doors, having just teleported themselves directly into the console room, while Amy and Rory continued to kiss, not even breaking apart to see that they had left the Asylum, which had just been destroyed and were now safe inside the TARDIS.

"You know," the Doctor called, using the TARDIS loud speaker, just to make for a bit more of a dramatic entrance into the Dalek Parliament, "You guys should really have seen this coming. The thing about us and teleports, the Hatter's brilliant at working with them…" the Hatter smiled, shaking her head fondly, "And I've got _really_ good aim. Pin-point accurate, in fact. Or, to put it another way…" he and the Hatter threw the door open, smirking as they stepped out into the Dalek Parliament, "Suckers!" they shouted in unison.

"Identify yourselves!" one of the Daleks demanded.

"Identify!" another Dalek ordered, gliding towards them, "Identify!"

"Well, it's us," the Hatter said with a small, slightly bemused expression, "Hello!" she wiggled her fingers at them in a mocking wave.

"You know us!" the Doctor added, frowning slightly, too, "The Doctor and the Hatter. The Oncoming Storm and his clever wife. The Predator…"

"I so have to get myself a nickname," the Time Lady muttered, shaking her head, "It's just not fair that you get one and I'm none as your wife. That's just so… _Victorian_ ," she pulled a face.

"I quite like it," he remarked softly, glancing back to her, very much enjoying being able to call her his wife after all those centuries of being in love with her and not being able to say a word for fear of losing her.

She rolled her eyes, "Yes, well, you're a man," she sighed, "Time Lord or not".

"Titles are not meaningful in this context," Darla said, looking at them blankly, not seeming to recognise them at all, "Doctor who? Hatter who?"

"Doctor who?" the Prime Minister Dalek asked, "Hatter who?"

"Doctor who?" the white Dalek repeated, "Hatter who?"

The Hatter broke into a wide smile, looking delighted, "Oh, she didn't…" she breathed, before laughing as she looked back to the Doctor, who was slowly starting to smile, "Oswin, she didn't just deleted us from the Intensive Care Daleks, she deleted us from _all_ of them, sweetheart!"

The Doctor laughed and wrapped his arm around her waist, kissing her cheek quickly in his happiness.

"Doctor who?" the Daleks all throughout the room chanted, "Hatter who?"

"Fellas," he smirked at them, "You're never going to stop asking".

The Time Lords slipped back into the time machine, the chant still ringing in their ears as they closed the doors and dashed back up to the controls, rolling their eyes at the sight of Amy and Rory still very much engrossed in one another, before flying off into the Time Vortex, still grinning.

…

Once the Doctor and the Hatter had finally managed to get Amy and Rory to stop kissing long enough to actually explain to them what had happened while they had been otherwise engaged, the Time Lords took them back to Earth, dropping them back off outside the front of their house before heading off to pickup Astra…well, that had been the plan, they did get a bit off track for a few weeks, by accident, but thankfully they finally managed to get back to their daughter, apparently landing just two hours after they had left her with Sarah Jane in the first place. They decided not to mention the fact that it had been a few weeks longer for them, Astra was already grumpy enough about missing out on an adventure that included the Daleks, let alone missing out on _more_ fun stuff.

The Hatter sighed slightly tiredly as she rubbed her forehead, leaning back against the console, just as the Doctor emerged from the top of the stairs, practically skipping down them, "Did you manage to get her to finally go to sleep?" she asked him, lowering her hand.

"Yep," he nodded, coming to stand beside her, linking his arm through hers, "Well, I did have to tell her that we left her behind to protect her and that we would always do that if we felt like something was too dangerous, but she seemed to warm up a bit more after that," he smiled wider, "She loved hearing all about the adventure".

She smiled faintly, relieved that he had manage to get Astra into a much better mood now, he did have a way of settling Astra down when she was upset or cross, though probably because Astra truly was a daddy's girl, "And I'm sure you added quite a number of over dramatised details, too," she commented, nudging his side playfully.

"Maybe…"

She laughed, shaking her head fondly, "I think what we did today was for the best," she said, growing more serious, "Placing Astra into the position that we were in today…I don't think I could have handled it, not on top of everything else".

The Doctor's face softened, looking at her, "We'll shield her from all of that for as long as possible," he said firmly, determined to keep Astra as far away from the Daleks for a very long time yet.

The Hatter frowned, sighing again, "Do you think that's even possible?"

"We'll make it possible," he told her, tilting his head so that the side of his head rested against hers, pulling her closer to his side, "I don't know how and if it will even work, but for now, we'll do whatever we can to keep her safe".

The Time Lady frowned slightly, feeling like it was a very difficult, near impossible task, what with their lifestyle and enemies, but for Astra they would try their very hardest, even if it didn't work in the end, Astra deserved to have the best childhood they could give her.

 _ **I did plan a different ending for this chapter, but in the end I decided to just go with this one. I kind of feel like this adventure with the Daleks would have really have made the Time Lords see just how important it was to find ways to shield Astra from the dangers of their lifestyle, but I will also say that Astra will get the chance to cross paths with an age old enemy of theirs far sooner than they would like, though that won't be until later on in the season.**_

 _ **Next chapter: Astra is**_ _ **so**_ _ **her parent's daughter, the Hatter isn't jealous, as if…, and things are getting a little shaken up between our Time Lords. I hope you liked it, tell me what you thought. Please review :)**_

 _ **Guest reviews:**_

 _ **Guest (chapter 1):**_ _ **Ooh, that's a really tricky question to try and answer right now, since I'm not even sure if I know at this point. Twelve is such a different Doctor from Ten and Eleven, and I do feel like his era might bring a little bit of conflict between himself and the Hatter…but yet, I also feel like it might even bring them closer, so I'm kind of conflicted about his Doctor and how it might impact upon the Hatter. I have a lot of things running through my head for what's going to happen, but I won't know until I actually start writing and get a good sense of his character, I guess. I will say that the Hatter will likely find his Doctor to be one of the most challenging versions to deal with, which I do feel like could place a possible strain onto their relationship that we haven't seen before, so I'm quite looking forward to possibly exploring that. But, like I said, I won't know until I start writing :)**_

 _ **Guest (1):**_ _ **I had a feeling you might ask about that story and I'm really, really hoping to get the first chapter up by New Year's, I've pretty much finished the first chapter with Nine and likely only have another thousand to two thousand words left to go. Then I'll have to start writing Eleven's chapter and Twelve, and I've got a pretty good plan in mind for those two. I feel like for Eleven, I'll focus on how he and the Hatter might have ended up admitting their feels for each other, touching upon how River's relationship would have been different, too, while for Twelve it's going to be about repairing their friendship and dealing with the aftermath of the Time War, and for Nine it's about how he might have found the Hatter and then told her his feelings. So for three chapters it's going to be touching upon different things because I feel like writing about how they found the Hatter again would be just repetitive after three chapters. But, yeah, hopefully it will be up within the next few weeks :)**_

 _ **Guest (2):**_ _ **Yes! I am so excited to write for Clara, I've had so much planned for her for years now and I'm finally getting up to the stage of actually being able to write it, though I'm going to miss the Ponds terribly. Clara…ooh, fun times ahead, so many ideas and plans for her, she's possibly the companion I've looked forward to writing the most, in fact, so I'm very keen to start writing the second half of the season, while also dreading saying goodbye to Amy and Rory. Poor Ponds/Williams, we've been on a bit of a journey with those two and I'm going to miss that carefree sense of friendship and almost family-like relationship that they have with the Time Lords, but nothing can last forever, can it?**_


	4. Chapter 4 Dinosaurs on a Spaceship,Part1

_**Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, Part 1**_

The Doctor and the Hatter hurried through the passageways of the great palace of Queen Nefertiti and her husband, practically running in order to try and get back to where they had left the TARDIS parked in the middle of one of the massive palace chambers, the Doctor throwing slightly panicked looks back over his shoulder with every few steps that they went, while Astra was grumbling in the Hatter's arms about having her playtime with a small litter of kittens so rudely ruined by her parents suddenly deciding that it was time to go…and very urgently, apparently.

"Oh, why does this keep happening to us?" the Hatter groaned as they ran, relieved to catch sight of the doorway of the chamber just up ahead of them, trying hard not to jostle Astra around to much as she ran, "We were having such a nice time and then…"

"It's not my fault!" the Doctor said quickly, his hand lightly resting on her lower back as they ran, sneaking another nervous look over his shoulder.

"No, it never is, is it? And yet it somehow keeps happening".

He winced slightly at the annoyed tone in her voice, knowing that she was most certainly not pleased with him. It had meant to be just a nice little trip to Egypt in the year 1334 B.C, just something nice and relaxing as they tried to show Astra a bit more about Earth's history, but then, as it always seems to happen to them, their little trip became a whole lot more serious when a giant swarm of alien locusts attacked the city of Thebes and, well, they could hardly not get mixed up with it and try and sort everything out. Now, dealing with a swarm of angry giant bugs was one thing, but what happened after they had finished saving the city…that was quite another thing, and apparently neither of his girls were very pleased.

"I'm sorry, dear," he sighed, wincing slightly as they continued running, "I can't help it if Queens seem to find me very…"

She stopped suddenly and whirled around to glare at him, almost making him tip face first into the floor, but she grabbed his arm with her free right hand, steadying him, "Don't you dare finish that sentence, Doctor," she hissed dangerously, completely annoyed by the fact that they couldn't go _near_ a Earth Queen without one of them falling for the Doctor…or her, once.

He swallowed, staring back at her with wide, slightly fearful eyes, nodding hurriedly. He wasn't about to try and argue when she gave him that look, the look that could probably make an entire battle fleet of Daleks turn and run away, nor was he going to be stupid enough to try and ask if she was jealous right now, not when he already knew that she would simply scoff and deny it, if she didn't just slap him when she was in this mood. The Hatter, this version of her, anyway, didn't get jealous, she simply got very annoyed…though, what the difference was, he really didn't know. It seemed pretty close to jealousy to him…

Astra cooed something, letting out a little giggle.

The Doctor's head snapped back over his shoulder, feeling his stomach drop as he caught sight of the one person they had been trying to avoid turn the corner of the hallway several feet away from them, "Yes, my little star," he muttered warily, grabbing the Hatter's free hand, "Queenie does seem to be very… _eager_ to say goodbye, doesn't she?" he cleared his throat, grateful Astra was too young to understand exactly what it was that the Queen of Egypt really wanted right now.

The Hatter closed her eyes briefly, "Oh, give me strength…" she muttered, before shaking her head and quickly setting off again down the rest of the hallway.

The Doctor quickly tried to quicken their pace, hearing those dreaded footsteps following close behind him, knowing that it would be very bad if she caught up to them, "Come on!" he ushered the Hatter ahead of him as they dashed into the massive chamber and over to where the TARDIS was still parked, the Time Lady already pulling the key out of her jacket pocket and inserting it into the lock, dashing through into the console with Astra, "Bye, then!" he called back over his shoulder, moving to follow after his wife, who he could see through the door was already fitting Astra into her baby seat, "Lovely meeting you. Sorry about the mess…!"

He had just managed to get one foot over the threshold of the door, feeling quite victorious...when he was suddenly grabbed from behind and spun back around, suddenly finding himself pushed up against the side of the TARDIS by a woman wearing a tall, dark blue and gold jewelled headdress and a golden dress with a floaty cloak attached to her shoulders, her clothing almost making her shimmer as the light reflected off all of the gold thread and jewels that she wore. Queen Nefertiti wasted no time pressing herself against his front, running her hands all over his body as he squirmed and prayed to be rescued, while at the same time very dearly hoping that the Hatter wouldn't step outside and see this, especially not with Astra in her arms.

"You think I'll just let you leave without me?" Nefertiti said in a low, seductive voice, practically purring the words as she reached up to touch his hair, making the Doctor cringe slightly and try and turn his head away from her, but he could do nothing to stop her other hand from running all over his chest, "After everything we've been though?" she trailed her finger down the side of his face.

The Doctor desperately tried to lean away from her, feeling very uncomfortable with this woman pressed right up against him like this, touching him in a manner that no one but the Hatter ought to be, "You've got the Egyptian people to rule, Queen Nefertiti," he tried to remind her, grimacing as she relentlessly held him firmly against the TARDIS, "They'll need reassuring after that weapon-bearing giant alien locust attack we just stopped, rather brilliantly…" his voice grew higher in panic as her hands began moving further down.

The TARDIS door suddenly swung open again and the Hatter stepped out, raising an eyebrow at the scene unfolding before her, the Doctor looking almost frantic with panic and all wide eyed, pressed against the TARDIS, while Nefertiti jumped back from the Doctor, startled by her appearance, staring back at her in mild shock.

"Well…this is a little awkward, isn't it?" the Time Lady said lightly, her eyes coming to rest on the Queen, actually giving her a friendly smile, "Do you mind unhanding my husband? The poor thing looks like he's about to have a stroke from panicking so much, and I fear that it would be very, very confusing for our daughter to witness something like this going on…" she paused, looking briefly thoughtful, "Oh, and not to mention the fact that, well, he is _my_ husband, which basically means…" her expression and tone suddenly grew darker, any trace of lightness fading completely as she fixed Nefertiti with a glare, " _Hands off_ ," she blinked slightly, suddenly back to her normal, light self, "Now that I think about it, maybe I should have started with that…"

The Doctor sagged in relief against the TARDIS as Nefertiti looked stunned, taking a step back, apparently not knowing just how to react to the rather strange manner of the Time Lady and her rambling, let alone having someone issuing _her_ orders, but at least the message seemed to have gotten through.

"Ah, thank you, dear," he breathed, giving her a bright smile, though it faltered as the Time Lady gave him a annoyed look in return.

"Don't you dare let it go to your head," she warned him, pointing a firm finger at him, very dearly hoping that he wouldn't mistake this for her being jealous, after all, she trusted him completely and knew that no one would ever be able to come between them, so really, she had no reason to feel jealous. She just wished that Earth Queens would stop throwing themselves at him and getting them into messes like this all the time, because it really was so very annoying to have to witness another woman mauling her husband, but that didn't make her jealous…did it? Okay, so maybe she was a little bit, but she would rather jump into a supernova then ever admit _that_ aloud.

Suddenly, a funny beeping noise sounded from the direction of the Doctor, sounding like an old fashioned car horn going off, and he jumped slightly and quickly reached into his pocket, "Ooh, better get this, sorry…" he muttered, ignoring the puzzled look Nefertiti was giving him, while the Hatter instantly seemed to forget all about being annoyed and moved to stand beside him as he pulled the psychic paper out of his inner pocket, "I've got it set to Temporal News Feed…ooh, that's interesting…" he trailed off as he flipped the psychic paper open, looking at it.

"Yes, indeed," the Hatter nodded, peering over his shoulder to it, breaking into a smile.

"What is it?" Nefertiti asked, trying to get a look, too.

"Nothing," the Doctor quickly flipped the paper closed, hiding it from her, while the Hatter tried hard to look as if she was still cross, though she knew she wasn't fooling anyone, "Not interesting. Not at all…" he said, but he just couldn't help himself as he glanced back to the paper, grinning, "Ooh, I've never been there. Exciting!" he turned to the Hatter, his face lit up, "What about you, dear?"

"First time for me, too," the Time Lady agreed, evening clapping her hands with excitement, "Oh, this is going to be great! Astra will just love it!" she turned and headed back into the TARDIS, unable to wait to tell Astra about where they were going next, hoping this would make up for leaving Egypt so abruptly.

He glanced at Nefertiti, pleased to find her no longer staring at him like a hungry lion, "We're off!" he told her brightly, giving her a quick little wave before moving to follow after his wife, dashing up to the controls.

The Hatter looked up from where she was kneeling before Astra's baby seat, Astra kicking happily and smiling toothlessly, dribbling slightly down her chin, delighted by the news. She sighed slightly, seeing Nefertiti standing frozen in the doorway of the TARDIS, staring around the room in shock and amazement, apparently having tried to follow the Doctor.

"Looks like we have a guest coming with us, Doctor," she remarked, straightening and moving over to help the Doctor with the controls, "Queenie, be a dear and close the doors, please! We've got places to be".

….

The Doctor and the Hatter stood beside each other in the middle of the Indian Space Agency HQ in the year 2336, the Time Lady carrying Astra in her arms as they both looked at the holographic screen before them that was showing them images of a very oddly shaped spaceship that was rounded with different sections of the ship sticking out with flat ends, looking almost a bit like a cauliflower or a microscopic germ, something that the Hatter struggled to contain a giggle at when Astra pointed it out, quite grateful that she and the Doctor were the only ones who could understand Baby. Apparently, Astra had inherited the Doctor's ability to talk without thinking first, though, she was only four and a half months old, so accidently being a little insulting at this stage probably was to be expected. Standing beside the Time Lords, explaining to them the situation, was an Indian woman by the name of Indira, seemingly to be the one in charge of the whole base that they stood in.

"Craft size approximately ten million square kilometres," Indira was telling them.

The Doctor frowned slightly; standing with his arms crossed over his chest, eyeing the data flashing across the screen, "A ship the size of Canada coming at Earth very fast," he commented, not liking the news at all.

"Any indication about if there's people on board?" the Hatter asked as she lightly bounced Astra, looking at Indira, her concern growing the more information they found out about this ship. It was moving very quickly, they wouldn't have a whole lot of time to be able to stop it from reaching the Earth, and if there was people on there, even worse.

"We sent up a drone craft," Indira replied, reaching out to touch the screen with her finger, "It took these readings," she touched the screen, bringing up the new set of data.

The Doctor and the Hatter moved in closer, reading rapidly, their eyes widening.

"Crikey, Charlie, look at that!" he exclaimed, bending down slightly to get a better look at the information.

The Hatter slowly broke into a smile, glancing at Astra, who was trying to suck on the end of her mother's Gallifreyan signet necklace, "Well, I can certainly think of a few people who would enjoy seeing this," she said brightly, thinking mainly about the Ponds, though another person did pop into her head, but she thought of him a little less fondly. His flirting truly was on par with Captain Jack.

The Doctor straightened, looking at her with a grin, "Ooh, good idea, dear," he nodded to her, already having a pretty good idea of who she was thinking about, though he couldn't say he was overly keen with the idea of that man being around his wife, but she had put him in his place the last time they had seen him, so he didn't expect there to be much of a concern when it came to him flirting with the Hatter, "And the Ponds, of course," he continued, brightening, "Mustn't forget the Ponds. Haven't seen them in ages…" he frowned slightly, looking up as Nefertiti came to stand on the other side of the screen, looking around in wonder, "I'm riffling, aren't I, Hatter?"

"Little bit, yeah," the Time Lady smiled, amused.

He glanced back to Indira and Nefertiti, "People usually stop us when one of us starts riffling or carry on without us," he shrugged, "That's also an option".

"Can you communicate with this craft?" Nefertiti questioned, looking curiously at the screen.

"This is Queenie," the Hatter pointed her thumb at Nefertiti, looking at Indira, "She's…well, not a friend, exactly. She did try to seduce my husband, but then again, so did Amy…" she shook her head as Indira gave them a strange look, breaking into a smile, realising that she was starting to ramble on now, "Never mind that! Very good question, Queenie," she glanced at the woman, giving her an approving look.

"No," Indira told them, still giving them a slightly funny look, "No response on any channel, in any recognised language," she glanced back to the screen, "If it comes within ten thousand kilometres of Earth, we send up missiles".

The Doctor and the Hatter sighed, both looking quite grave as even Astra pulled a slight face, not liking the sound of missiles anymore then her parents.

"Oh, Indira, I liked you before you said missiles," the Doctor frowned, shaking his head as he turned back to the screen, "How long till the ship gets that close?"

"Six hours, nineteen minutes".

The Hatter exchanged a look with the Doctor, her expression growing determined as she shifted Astra into a more comfortable position in her arms, "Well, then," she said, looking back to the screen, "We'd better get a move on".

"Leave it with us," the Doctor told Indira, reaching out to take the Hatter's free hand, "Come on, Neffy," he glanced at Nefertiti, already heading off for the door with the Time Lady, "We're going to need help".

…

The next stop on the list was to the African Plains in 1902, the Time Lords sneaking up on a man dressed in safari style clothing as he sat outside of a tent at night time before a roaring fire, eating what appeared to be stew from a small bowl. Astra looked at the man curiously, before looking quickly back to the Doctor, who was carrying her, giving him an accusing look that made her look just like a mini version of the Hatter. The man sitting before them had been someone that they had meet during a little adventure that Astra hadn't been with them on, hence her rather displeased reaction to having been left out on going on a trip.

The Doctor gave her a small smile and kissed the top of her head, before looking back to the man, "More stew?" he asked him, unable to resist.

The man, John Riddell, jumped slightly, almost spilling the contents of his bowl over himself as he looked up to them, the Time Lords grinning as they happily took a seat on an old trunk beside his chair, the Doctor settling Astra on his knees with his arm supporting her back, since she was still too young to be sitting upright on her own.

"Where've you been?" Riddell demanded, narrowing his eyes on them both, "Seven months! You said you were popping out for some liquorice," he pointed his spoon at them, while the Doctor and the Hatter exchanged a small, slightly guiltily smile, "I had two very disappointed dancers on my hands," he lowered the spoon, smirking and even daring to give the Hatter a little wink, "Not that I couldn't manage".

The Hatter sighed, while the Doctor's expression darkened slightly and he narrowed his eyes on Riddell, "That is something I could have lived happily without knowing," she said dryly, before frowning as she glanced at Astra, "And kindly watch what you're saying around the innocent ears, please".

Riddell blinked slightly, looking at Astra, too, "Is this the daughter you spoke about so often?" he looked back to the Hatter, who was smiling gently at Astra, "She's a beauty…just like her mother, for sure," he flashed the Time Lady a charming smile, making her roll her eyes good naturally.

"Riddell, listen," the Doctor cut in with a sharp edge to his tone, really not liking hearing Riddell flirting at his wife, in front of him and his daughter, "We've found…well, something…" he glanced at the Hatter, not entirely sure how to try and explain it to him.

"No, no, no, no, no," Riddell shook his head, looking between them, "I shan't fall for that again…" he eyed them for a moment as the Time Lords looked at each other, smirking knowingly. He frowned slightly, "What is it?"

"Well, to be honest…" the Hatter turned back to him, smiling happily, "We have no idea, which is quite rare and very exciting. I can't remember the last time that happened," she raised her eyebrows at Riddell, "So…want to help us find out?"

Riddell eyes flickered between them, slowly smiling widely, clearly well and truly in.

….

The Doctor and the Hatter danced around the TARDIS console, while Astra sat strapped into her baby seat on one of the jump seats, squealing happily, trying and not quite managing to clap as the sound of the engines filled the air, the baby loving the sound and as she grew older, seeming to become more and more excited whenever she heard it, likely because it usually meant that they were going somewhere new and exciting. Nefertiti and Riddell were clinging onto the railings, Nefertiti somehow managing to make it look very dignified after only a few trips, while Riddell kept hissing curses under his breath and struggling to stop his boots from sliding on the glass floor, earning a dark look from the Time Lady as she passed by him, resisting against the urge to smack his hat off his head for swearing so near to her daughters ears.

"Okay!" the Doctor grinned, flipping a switch, "I've got a lock on the Ponds!"

The Hatter moved around to him, looking a little concerned as she glanced at the monitor hanging above the console, showing Amy and Rory's house, more specifically their living room, "Doctor, maybe we should give them a quick call first," she suggested, really not wanting to intrude upon the couple if they were…busy.

"I'm sure they'll be delighted to see us," he said dismissively, not in any way worried.

The Time Lady gave him a quick look, deciding that if the Doctor wasn't going to check first, that he could be to blame for whatever Amy or Rory might have to say about just barging in on them without warning. She moved away from the monitor and pulled a lever, reaching over to flip a switch, while the Doctor twisted a dial, bringing the TARDIS to materialise around Amy and Rory as they appeared to be in their living room, though they couldn't actually _see_ the couple, the TARDIS was basing it off of their temporal signatures.

Slowly, off to the side of the room, three figures began to solidify as the TARDIS finished materialising around them. The Hatter smiled happily and poked her head around the Time Rotor, only for her to groan softly and close her eyes in exasperation, finding that while they seemed to have managed to get Amy and Rory, they also seemed to have accidently picked up a middle aged man who was standing on top of a ladder that Amy and Rory were gathered around, steadying, looking quite stunned as he blinked slowly, still holding a light bulb in his hand. She recognised the man instantly, she had even managed to get a dance out of him at Amy and Rory's wedding. Brian Williams, Rory's father. And this is why the Doctor really ought to check before barging into Amy and Rory's house, to stop embarrassing and complicated things like this from happening…though, she had to admit that it was a nice change to see them wearing clothing…

"Hello!" the Doctor called brightly, apparently not seeming to notice their accidental passenger, still fiddling with the controls, "You weren't busy, were you?"

"Doctor," the Hatter tried, giving Amy and Rory an apologetic look as they remained beside the ladder, looking quite annoyed, poor Rory seemed to want to just disappear through the floor.

"Well, even if you were," he continued, oblivious and not seeming to hear the Time Lady as he hurried around the console, setting them off again for their final destination, "It wasn't as interesting as this _probably_ is".

The Time Lady sighed, not even bothering to try and get the Doctor's attention, not while he was busy concentrating on driving and chatting, "I'm sorry," she called over to the humans, moving across to Astra, getting ready to release her from the straps, "I did try to talk to him, but you know how he gets when he's excited. He didn't want you two to miss out".

The Doctor grinned, looking around to Time Rotor to her before turning back to the controls, kicking open a hidden compartment beneath one of the console panels, "Now, just a quick hop…" he pulled a lever.

The Hatter grabbed the railing by Astra's seat, waiting until she felt the TARDIS come to a slightly rough, shaky landing before shaking her head and bending down to start un-strapping Astra, who appeared to be quite excited as she lifted her up into her arms, pausing briefly to straighten the small lace bow that she had around her head.

"Everyone grab a torch!" he called around the room, moving to grab a torch out of the compartment he had kicked open, plucking a torch out of it, while Rory and Amy exchanged a look and moved to grab one, too, Nefertiti and Riddell slowly doing the same.

The Time Lady winced slightly as she heard the sound of glass shattering and looked back over to see that Brian had dropped the light bulb, but she figured that he would probably take to the news of what had happened to him better if it came from Rory, so she simply adjusted Astra in her arms and moved to join the Doctor by the door, not bothering to grab a torch. It was hard enough juggling a baby, let alone adding a torch.

The Doctor gave her an excited smile as she reached him, his torch already lit up as he took her hand and pushed the doors open, stepping out to find themselves standing in what appeared to be a darkened corridor of a spaceship, thick spider webs covering almost every wall and draping over the ceiling above them, hanging in thick curtains as a thick layer of sandy dirt seemed to cover the floor. The Hatter instantly grimaced as she looked around at the webs, this regeneration not overly fond of spiders, while Astra gave a little squeak of displeasure and snuggled her face into the brunet's neck, apparently not liking how dark and spooky the place looked, either.

"Shh, its okay, my darling," the Hatter murmured, tilting her head down so that her cheek touched the top of her head, "You're safe, I promise. Mummy and daddy won't let anything happen to you".

The Doctor gave Astra a slightly concerned look, but he relaxed as Astra lifted her head and looked around again, seeming to be a bit more reassured now and steadily growing more curious. He smiled faintly and edged closer to one of the webs, finding a spider sitting in the middle of it, "Spiders," he remarked, shining his torch on it as the rest of their group stepped out of the TARDIS, "Don't normally get spiders in space".

"Thankfully," the Time Lady muttered, more to herself then to anyone else, keeping her distance from the webs.

Brian slowly stepped outside the time machine, staring around in shock and confusion, "What the…?" he exclaimed as Rory sighed slightly, closing the door behind him.

The Doctor suddenly tensed, "Don't move!" he ordered sharply, whirling around and lightly pushing the Time Lady behind him, making her roll her eyes as he marched over to Brian, aiming his touch directly in the man's face, "Do you _really_ think I'm that stupid I wouldn't notice?" he glared at him, "How did you get aboard, eh? Transmat? Who sent you?"

The Hatter shook her head, struggling against to laugh at his antics. He seriously was the most oblivious man she had ever met.

"Doctor…" Rory began, clearing his throat, "That's my dad".

He blinked, looking taken aback for a moment before he turned his glare on Rory, "Well, frankly, that's outrageous".

Rory blinked, startled as he threw the Hatter a quick look, "What?"

"You think you can just bring your dad along without asking? I'm not a taxi service, you know!"

The Hatter closed her eyes in exasperation, "Doctor," she said, drawing his attention back over to her as she moved closer to him, lightly touching his arm, "It's hardly Rory's fault, _we_ were the ones who materialised around _them_ ".

"Oh…" the Doctor glanced back to Rory and Brian, giving them a slightly embarrassed smile, "Well, that's fine, then. My mistake…" his smile brightened as he reached out to grab Brian's hand, "Hello, Brian, how are you?" he asked brightly, shaking his hand as the poor man stared at him in confusion, "Nice to meet you".

"Don't mind him," the Time Lady told Brian, giving him a gentle smile, "He's very protective and a bit of an idiot…"

"Hatter!"

"The most adorable idiot in the Universe, of course," she continued in the same light tone, flashing the Doctor a grin. She supposed that she probably shouldn't he surprised that the Doctor didn't recognise Brian from the wedding, it had almost been three hundred years ago now, two of which they had spent mostly on their own, waving back through time to Amy and Rory, while the past century they had spent it mostly finding every database in the Universe and erasing themselves from it, having gotten the idea from Oswin back on the Dalek Asylum, though the down side had been that they had been forced to spend quite a bit of time away from Astra, sending her to spend time with friends before picking her up again only a few hours later, even if it might have been a decade for them. Most of the databases belonged to their biggest enemies; they hadn't dared risking bringing Astra along with them. It was horrible having to part themselves from her like that, but for Astra's safety, they didn't feel like they had much of a choice.

"That's better, dear!" the Doctor said happily, kissing her cheek quickly before dropping a kiss onto Astra's head, making the baby squeal in delight and try grabbing at him. He gave her an indulgent smile as the Hatter shook her head fondly, passing the baby across into his arms, watching for a moment as Astra immediately settled comfortably against his chest, trying to grab at his bowtie. He shook his head fondly, looking up to the rest of the group, "Well, welcome, welcome," he looked around at them all, "This is the gang. I've got a gang. Yes!" he tried fist pumping the air.

"He's very excited today," the Hatter whispered to Amy, who smiled slightly, amused.

"Come on, then, everyone!" he turned and began leading the way off down the hallway, bobbing Astra in his arms as he went, the Time Lady smiling as she caught up to them.

"Tell him something, quick," Amy told Rory quietly as she moved to hurry along after the Time Lords, glancing pointedly at Brian.

"Yes, thank you!" Rory's called sarcastically back to her.

The Hatter smiled faintly, amused as she glanced at Amy as she caught up to the Time Lords, but her smile faded as a shudder run through the spaceship, sounding more like very large footsteps shaking the ship than anything else. She frowned, meeting the Doctor's eyes as he looked at her, not sure what to make of the possible footsteps. Whatever it was, it was very big.

"Alright," Amy eyed the Time Lords, casting a quick, wary look around the corridor as they continued walking, "Where are we? What is that noise? And hello!" she looked back to them with a frown, reaching out to lightly hit the Hatter's arm, making her blink slightly in surprise, "Ten months!"

The Time Lady sighed slightly, exchanging another look with the Doctor. They had tried to pick Amy and Rory up after only a few weeks since their last adventure at the Asylum, but the TARDIS had apparently different ideas.

"To answer your first question, Amy," she glanced back to her, "We're currently orbiting the Earth in an unknown spaceship…" she paused, considering what she had just said, "Well, orbiting isn't _quite_ true, we're a few hours away from crashing directly into the Earth, hence why we're here in the first place. Now, as for that noise…haven't got a clue, but I expect we'll find out soon enough," she broke into a happy smile, not seeming to be overly concerned, actually very excited by the prospect of learning something new, "That's how it usually works, isn't it?"

"Hello, Pond!" the Doctor suddenly stopped and spun around, wrapping Amy up in a one arm hug for a moment before releasing her, making her wince slightly as Astra grabbed at a piece of her hair and gave it a tug.

The Hatter sighed and quickly moved to gently extract Amy from Astra's fingers, giving the baby a lightly scolding look, "Astra," she said sternly, "Be gentle with Auntie Amy".

"It's fine, Hatter," Amy shook her head, leaning down slightly to give Astra a large smile and reach out to take her hand, her face softening as she looked at her, "She's only a baby".

"We're trying to teach her not to grab at hair," the Doctor commented, looking down at Astra, "She might be a baby, but she understands better than most," he tried to give Astra a stern look, but it failed completely and Astra simply gave him a toothless grin, "Cheeky," he muttered, shaking his head fondly, "Just like your mother…" he shot the Time Lady a pointed look as she smiled faintly. He looked back up to Amy, frowning slightly as he eyed her, thinking about the ten months that had passed for her and Rory, "Ten months?" he turned and began leading them off again, "Time flies," he pulled a slight face, "Never really understood that phrase…"

The Time Lady gave him a fond look and glanced back to Amy, seeing her frowning slightly back over her shoulder to the two new faces of their group, "Oh, yes, introductions!" she nodded, turning to walk backwards as she pointed out the two people, "This is Queenie…also known as Neffy, and that's Riddell…" she narrowed her eyes slightly as she turned back around to walk normally, lowering her voice to Amy, "Watch out for Riddell, terrible flirt and bit of a misogynist, I give you full permission to put him in his place. He needs it. They're…" she paused, trying to come up with a way to describe just what they were, since she wasn't completely sure if _friends_ was the right word, "…tagging along with us".

"Charmed," Riddell called to Amy, giving her one of his little flirty grins and lightly tapping the edge of his hat towards her.

"Stop it," the Hatter threw him a scolding look, before blinking, realising that she sounded just like the Tenth Doctor with Jack. She glanced at the Doctor, hoping that he wouldn't have noticed, only to see him smirking at her, apparently finding it highly amusing.

"Wait, with you two?" Amy frowned, quickly turning back to eye the Time Lords, "They're with you? Are they the new us?" she narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "Is that why we haven't seen you?"

The Time Lady stopped walking and reached out to touch her arm, "No, of course not," she said firmly, giving her arm a little squeeze, "None of our friends could possibly be replaced, Amy. They're just…people that we know and are sort of friendly with".

"That makes no sense…."

"They're not Ponds," the Doctor told her, pausing in the hallway, too, though he was busy trying to juggle Astra in his arms and his torch, "We thought we might need a new gang. Not really had a gang before. It's new".

"Hardly," the Hatter shook her head, trying to peer through the darkness ahead of them. When they had been kids, they used to have a pretty wide circle of friends at the Academy, of course the Master and the Rani had been their main friends, but they had also been quite friendly with several others, all of which, save for three, eventually going on to become renegades in their later lives. They had called themselves the Deca and had spent many a lively afternoon discussing ideas and debating, all eleven member of their little group being considered to be at the forefront of their year…save for the Doctor, who never did do very well academically and mainly only got in because the Master and the Hatter had vouched for him. It still surprised the Hatter whenever she thought back to those days, how innocent it had all seemed when they had been gathered together, discussing the relevance of the Laws of Time and the latest political developments, but she realised now that it hadn't been, not really. They had already been starting to carve their own paths and directions even back then as children, they just hadn't realised it yet, perhaps if they had, then she and the Doctor might have been able to prevent the Master and the Rani from going down the paths that they had.

A funny grinding, whooshing noise sounded up ahead of them, making the Doctor and the Hatter stop as the rest of the group caught up to them, aiming their torches up ahead of them, lighting up what appeared to be a large bulkhead door at the end of the hallway. Little red lights flashed on two panels on the side of the door, and the Hatter realised that it wasn't just a door, but a lift and someone or something was coming down it to their level.

"Ooh, here we go," she couldn't help grinning excitedly, even rubbing her hands together in her eagerness, "Finally, some action".

The Doctor laughed quietly and shot her a fond look, while Astra watched on curiously, gripping his blazer tightly, "Looks like you're about to get you wish, dear," he remarked, turning back to watch the lift doors, "It's coming down to our floor".

"What is it?" Riddell asked from behind them, looking wary.

"No idea," he shook his head, feeling just as excited as the Time Lady.

The lift arrived at their level and the doors began to open, bright white light spilling out over them as they squinted through it, trying hard to see, when two massive figures appeared within the light. The Doctor and the Hatter's eyes widened in disbelief, while Astra began cooing loudly and excitedly, trying to reach out towards the shadows.

"Not possible!" Brian breathed, his mouth falling open.

The figures moved out of the blinding light with a large roar, revealing two massive dinosaurs, Ankylosaurs, to be precise.

"Run!" the Doctor shouted, though while the humans all took off running back up the corridor, he and the Hatter remained staring at the dinosaurs, grinning broadly in fascination and delight, unable to tear their eyes away as the two creatures threw their heads around, growling and letting out another little roar.

"Oh, this is just so…cool!" the Hatter cheered, laughing excitedly.

"I know!" he exclaimed, smiling widely, " _Dinosaurs_! On a _spaceship_!" he started laughing, too, just as Astra tried to almost throw herself out of his arms, desperately wanting to get to the dinosaurs, "Ooh, no you don't, missy…" he muttered, still smiling as he quickly adjusted her in his arms, making sure she couldn't try that again. Astra grumbled at him, pouting, "Well, maybe you'll get the chance to play with one later, my little star, maybe even have a ride on one…"

Amy skidded to a stop as she realised that the Time Lords weren't following her, rolling her eyes in exasperation as she turned back to see them still just standing there, apparently completely unconcerned by the fact that two dinosaurs were just four meters away from them, "Doctor!" she called to them, trying to get their attention, "Hatter!"

The Hatter blinked, coming out of her near trance to glance back to Amy, who was holding her arms out beside her, looking between them and the dinosaurs, before sighing as she glanced at the Doctor, "Sweetheart," she grabbed his arm, casting Astra a quick, worried look, "Maybe it would be best if we started running now".

He gave himself a little shake and looked back to the creatures and then back down to Astra, "Good idea," he nodded quickly, realising that this probably wasn't the best thing to be doing right now, especially not with Astra.

The Time Lords turned and began running back after the rest of the group, making Amy sigh in relief as she hurried along with them. Astra, on the other hand, let out a loud whine, quite disappointed, just as the dinosaurs stepped out of the lift, seeming to be having a small fight with one another as their footsteps shook the whole room. They continued running, throwing nervous looks of their shoulders as they went, Nefertiti, Brian, and Rory leading the way with the Doctor and the Hatter at the back.

"In here!" Nefertiti suddenly called, ducking off to the side of the corridor, where a small alcove was.

They all dashed into the small space, the Doctor almost skidding into a wall before the Time Lady managed to grab the back of his blazer, pulling him back over to where the others were hidden in the alcove. They carefully grouped together as they peered around the edge of the wall, the Time Lady pressing a finger up to her lips, telling them all to be silent as the dinosaurs came into view around the corner, still seeming to be trying to fight one another as they rammed into each other's sides.

Riddell pulled a very large hunting knife from his side, holding it up for them all to see, his eyes fixed on the creatures, "I could take one of them," he whispered, glancing back to them, "Short blow up into the throat…"

"Put that thing away!" the Hatter hissed, smacking his arm with a dark look as he blinked, "I can't believe I even have to say this, but we are _not_ stabbing a dinosaur!" she shook her head in annoyance, "What is it with hunters and killing? How is that even supposed to be _sport_?" she pulled a disgusted face, sighing heavily, "This isn't about _killing_ , Riddell, this is about _preserving_ life, so no knives or guns. Got me?"

He frowned at her, not lowering his blade, "And who's going to preserve _us_?" he said quietly.

"Shush!" Amy hushed quickly, holding up a hand.

They all fell silent again as Riddell slowly slipped his knife away as they watched as the two dinosaurs continued passed them with a loud growl, one of them narrowly missing hitting them with its tail as they went , thumping along loudly, smashing bits of masonry off the wall and breaking a light as they disappeared off down the hallway. Slowly, they all crept out of the alcove and back into the middle of the corridor, checking that they were gone.

"Okay," Rory began, looking to the Time Lords, "So…how and whose ship?"

The Doctor broke into a grin, adjusting Astra more comfortably in his arms, "Well, there's so much to discover," he said eagerly, exchanging a quick, excited look with the Hatter, "Think how much wiser we'll be by the end of all this. Hey, my little star?" he looked down to Astra, lightly bouncing her, "We like the nice dinosaurs, don't we?"

"Sorry, sorry," Brian suddenly cut in, moving closer to the Time Lords as Rory closed his eyes, "Are you saying dinosaurs are _flying_ a spaceship?" he asked the Doctor, staring at him.

"Brian, please," he shook his head at him, "That would be ridiculous".

The Hatter cleared her throat, giving the Doctor a small, scolding look before turning to Brian, flashing him a comforting smile, "Not quite," she said lightly, "I would be more inclined to think that the dinosaurs are…cargo or passengers…"

The Doctor suddenly held up a finger, "Did we mention missiles?" he questioned, not quite sure if they had covered that part yet.

"Missiles?" Brian exclaimed, and Rory and the Doctor quickly moved to try and quieten him.

The Time Lady closed her eyes briefly, "Way to break the news, Doctor…" she muttered, before trying to give the humans a comforting look, "I wouldn't worry about that right now, we still have six hours before anything like that happens".

"Six hours is a lifetime," the Doctor commented carelessly, before pausing to give them a little smile, "Not _literally_ a lifetime. That's what we're trying to avoid…" Rory laughed sarcastically, shaking his head with a pointed look, but he completely ignored it as he continued, "And we're all really clever…"

"Okay," the Hatter interrupted him, giving the Doctor a small smile as she noticed Rory's growing annoyance. She reached out and took the Doctor's hand, "Say, I think I see some equipment over here," she nodded off to the side of the room, where she could see a doorway leading into another room, "Let's go check it out. Come on".

She lightly tugged the Doctor over towards the doorway, leaving the rest of the group to catch up to them as they stepped over towards the equipment that was covered in a thick layer of spider webs and dust, several vines having also grown up and around the equipment. The Hatter pulled a face at the webs and let go of the Doctor's hand, deciding that she would leave it to him to deal with the equipment while she had a poke around…without touching anything or going near any spider webs. She could already feel the sensation of having something crawling over her back, making her feel paranoid that she had a spider on her. She caught the Doctor's eye as she moved off to the side and he gave her a small, comforting smile as he gently bounced Astra.

"Everything alright, dear?" he asked her softly.

"Yes, fine," she coughed awkwardly, pretending to be taking an interest in what appeared to be claw marks on one of the walls, her arms folded tightly over her chest, "Just…looking for clues as to who this ship might belong to".

The Doctor gave her a knowing look, perfectly aware of just how much this regeneration seemed to dislike spiders, but he also knew that she wouldn't like him drawing to much attention to that fact; she always did prefer to seem completely fine while they were out on an adventure. He glanced down at Astra, who looked back up to him, cooing something that made him laugh.

"Maybe we'll see some more dinosaurs soon," he assured her, loving how excited Astra seemed to be about the dinosaurs, she just wanted to try and play with one, not seeming to care about how huge they were or that they made a number of loud, not very friendly noises. The Hatter was right, she truly was his daughter. He shook his head and turned back to the equipment, using his free hand to wipe the webs off the screen, pulling a face and turning to wipe the webs off on Brian's shoulder, who had just joined him.

Amy leaned close to the walls, looking at the same claw marks that the Hatter had been before, "How many dinosaurs do you think are on here?" she asked, frowning slightly.

The Hatter cast her eyes around the space, "I suppose we'll have to see if the computer system has a record," she remarked thoughtfully, "But my main interest is _who_ owns this spaceship in the first place and _why_ they have dinosaurs in the first place," she paused, considering it, "Preservation is the first obvious possibility, but there's also experimentation…" she grimaced as that last thought entered her head, while Amy pulled a face, too.

The Doctor carefully juggled Astra in one arm, quite proud to be able to say that he had become quite good at managing tasks one handed over the past few months, and reached into his pocket to pull his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. He smiled as Astra tried grabbing at it, but made sure to keep it out of reach as he flashed it at the screen, switching it on, bringing up a series of alien characters that flashed across the screen. The language looked familiar, but he couldn't quite place it, before the writing was replaced by images of the ship and more alien writing.

"Oh, well done, whoever you are," he grinned as Rory came to stand by his left shoulder, Brian still by his right. He tucked the sonic back into his inner blazer pocket, "Looking for engines," he said, when the information changed to show him engine schematics, "Thank you, computer. Look at that," he frowned slightly, pointing at the screen, "Different sections have engines, but these look like the primary clusters…" the Hatter looked up, listening intently, "Where are we now, computer? We need to get down to these engines…"

The words had barely left the Doctor's mouth before he, along with Astra, Rory, and Brian disappeared in a flash of light. The Hatter let out a groan and hurried over towards the computer, her dislike for spider webs merely an annoyance now that her husband and child had just disappeared right before her eyes.

"What happened?" Nefertiti asked, drawing Amy and Riddell's attention to what just happened.

"They've been teleported away," the Hatter explained, sighing as she tried the computer as the others gathered around her, "I think it works based on verbal control, so when the Doctor said that he needed to get down to the engines, the computer did just that".

"Oh, great!" Amy muttered sarcastically.

"And it gets worse," she continued, turning away from the computer, "The teleports drained, meaning we can't follow them," she straightened her shoulders, looking determined, "We're going to have to find them another way. Come on".

And without waiting, she turned and strolled off, waiting for them to catch up to her. She had a few ideas in mind as to how to find them, but for now, the Time Lords would have to do things on their own, for the first time in centuries.

…

"…and find out…" the Doctor trailed off, blinking as he was suddenly hit with a chilly wind that ruffled his hair and clothing, smelling strongly of salty sea water. He blinked and looked around; finding himself standing on what seemed to be a beach on a grey, windy day with Rory and Brian standing beside him, looking just as stunned as he felt and Astra clutching his shirt with a puzzled expression. He turned around on the spot, hoping to see the Hatter standing there, but she wasn't, "What?" he exclaimed, looking around quickly, holding Astra closer to him.

"We're outside," Brian gasped, his eyes wide, looking around at the ocean behind them, "We're on a beach!"

"Teleport," the Doctor grumbled, spinning back around to face the humans, "Oh, I hate teleports. Must have activated on my voice," he sighed.

"Ah, yes," Brian suddenly turned on him, glaring angrily, "Well, thank you, Arthur C. Clark! Teleport, obviously. I mean, we're on a spaceship with dinosaurs! Why wouldn't there be a teleport? In fact, why don't we teleport now?" he turned and stormed away from them, leaving the Doctor, Astra, and Rory staring after him.

The Doctor slowly looked back to Rory, comfortingly bouncing Astra, "Is he alright?"

"No, he hates travelling," Rory explained, glancing back to him, "Makes him _really_ anxious. He only goes to the paper shop and golf".

"What did you bring him for?"

"I didn't!" he exclaimed, and the Doctor quickly hushed him with a pointed look down to Astra, who jumped slightly at the sudden shout. Rory shifted slightly, "Sorry," he muttered awkwardly, giving Astra a small smile and reaching out to take her hand, really not having meant to startle the baby. Astra gave him a long look and Rory had the strangest feeling that she was judging him, before she suddenly broke into a wide, toothless smile, apparently forgiving him, "Doctor, why can't you just phone ahead like any normal person?" he asked with a small sigh, forcing his voice to stay level as he looked up to him.

The Doctor went to reply, when Brian walked back over to them, seeming to be slightly calmer now as they all turned towards him, "Somebody tell me where we are?" he looked between them, forcefully pointing his finger down at the sand, " _Now_!"

The Doctor stuck his tongue out, tasting the air, and Astra tried to copy him, "Well, it's not Earth," he commented, pulling a slight face, "Doesn't taste right. Too metallic," he sighed, looking around glumly, "The Hatter would probably know where we are. She's good at that".

A screeching noise sounded from the air above them, making them look up to see a large bird-like creature flying above them, but Rory seemed to be more interested in the beach, kneeling down to place his hand on the wet sand, frowning.

"Is that a kestrel?" Brian questioned, pointing up towards the creature.

The Doctor glanced at it, breaking into a smile, "I do hope so," he turned back to him, thinking that the alternative was likely far more serious and if anything happened to Astra, he would never forgive himself…let alone what the Hatter would do to him.

"The beach is humming," Rory told the Doctor, straightening.

"Is it?" he said in mild surprise, crouching down to touch the sand himself, Astra trying to reach out and touch it, too, "Oh, yes!" he stood back up, fixing Brian and Rory with a look, as if they ought to be already doing something else, "Right, well, don't just stand there, you two. Dig!" he absently brushed his hand against his trousers, turning towards the large cliff face that loomed over the beach, "Astra and I are going to look at the rocks. Love a rock, eh, my little star?" he grinned down at Astra, kissing her head as he set off for the cliff.

"Dig with what?" Rory called after him, frowning deeply.

The Doctor simply held up his free hand, wiggling his fingers, not pausing. Rory sighed in exasperation, wondering if Amy was having just as much difficulty dealing with the Hatter right now because without the Hatter here, he really could understand just why the Doctor was such hard work, at least with the Hatter around she acted like a buffer. He shook his head and turned back to see his father pulling a collapsible trowel from his pocket.

"Ah!" Brian gave a small cheer, smiling as he unfolded the trowel and held it up for Rory to see; "Well!" he knelt back down on the sand, starting to dig.

Rory stared at him in disbelief, "Did you just have that on you?"

"Of course. What sort of man doesn't carry a trowel? Put it on your Christmas list".

He sighed, shaking his head, "Dad, I'm thirty one," he reminded him, kneeling beside him, "I don't have a Christmas list any more".

"We do!" the Doctor suddenly cheered off in the distance, making Rory look up to see him standing on a set of flat rocks, holding one hand up in the air and grinning proudly, while Astra squealed, waving her arms around excitedly.

Rory gave them a small smile and thumbs up, when a metallic tapping noise sounded and he looked back to see his father had stopped digging, tapping the end of the trowel onto something metal at the bottom of the small hole he had dug.

"There's a floor under this beach!" Brian exclaimed, looking up in amazement and shock.

"Doctor!" Rory shouted, jumping onto his feet and running for the Doctor, gesturing back to Brian for him to follow, "Doctor!"

….

The Hatter lead the way through the corridors of the spaceship with Amy beside her, lighting up the path ahead of them with Amy's torch, peering through the darkness carefully, keeping her eyes out for any more computer equipment that she could possibly try and find the Doctor with, but she wasn't overly concerned. The Doctor was more than capable of taking care of himself and Astra, not to mention Rory and Brian, so she wasn't worrying too much. In fact, her main concern right now had more to do with making sure that her own little group remained safe from dinosaurs as they crept through the hallways. That seemed like a far more pressing concern right now.

"There's clearly more than just two of those creatures," Riddell remarked as he trailed behind the Time Lady, looking around at the large, broken egg shells that littered the floor around them. He reached into his pocket, slipping a silver hipflask out of his pocket and took a drink from it.

The Time Lady paused and turned around, fixing him with a sharp look as she placed her hands on her hips, "Are you seriously drinking _alcohol_ right now?" she hissed at him, unable to believe his nerve. She didn't wait for his repose, suddenly lunging forward and snatching the flask out of his hand, making his cough and splutter as it was ripped out of his hands, "I will not have companions who are drinking while on an adventure," she said sternly, pouring the contents of the flask out onto the ground, "Honestly, it's simply ridiculous, I can't have you getting drunk".

"You can't just pour it out! It's medicinal".

She gave him a cold look, pushing the empty flask into his chest, "No drinking," she repeated, not taking her eyes off his, "I never allowed any of my past companions to drink while on an adventure like this, nor will you, Riddell…even if you're technically not my companion," she turned and began striding off again, truly unable to believe that he was drinking while they were in such a serious and possibly dangerous situation.

"I don't take orders from females," Riddell told her haughtily, slipping his empty flask into his pocket, making the Time Lady scoff and roll her eyes.

"Then learn," Nefertiti said from beside him, carefully moving her torch light around the room as they continued walking, "Any man who speaks to me that way, I execute".

Riddell glanced at her, smirking, "You're very welcome to try".

"Oh, the flirting," the Hatter muttered as she carefully stepped over a broken eggshell, "That takes me back, thank goodness Alice came from the Victorian era and was all shy about romance".

Amy smiled slightly at the Time Lady, finding it quite amusing to see how she handled having to deal with companions without the Doctor; she certainly seemed to have grown a bit more responsible and serious without the Doctor around them. The Hatter's approach to having a companion seemed like almost a strict teacher, though that might just be because Amy had a feeling that the Hatter didn't really approve of Riddell.

"Sorry," she turned towards Nefertiti, giving her a curious look, "What was your name again?"

"Lady of the Two Lands," Nefertiti began proudly, lifting her chin, "Wife of the great King Amenhotep, Queen Nefertiti of Egypt".

Amy and Riddell both stopped in their tracks, staring back at her in amazement, "I'll be damned…" Riddell breathed, taking his hat off his head.

The Hatter grinned, spinning back around to take in their expression, highly amused, "Oh, didn't I mention that we have one of the most famous Queens in human's history with us?" she said innocently, unable stop laughing softly as Amy threw her a look, "My mistake".

Amy shook her head at the Time lady, knowing that she had likely done it on purpose, just so that she could stand back and enjoy the show once they found out just who Nefertiti actually was, "Oh, my God," she said excitedly, turning back to Nefertiti, her eyes lighting up in delight, "Queen Nefertiti? I learned all about you at school. You're awesome! Big fan. High five," she held up her hand eagerly, but Nefertiti simply eyed it blankly.

"Yeah…she doesn't do that, Amy," the Time Lady said softly, giving Amy a small smile as she slowly lowered her hand, "Not to worry," she brightened suddenly, reaching over to lightly nudge Nefertiti's arm, earning a startled look from the Queen, not that the Hatter seemed to notice, "We'll fix that, high fiving is kind of my thing…" she trailed off suddenly, frowning as she looked away, tensing, "Did…you guys hear that?" she whispered.

They all fell silent, listening closely as a low rumbling noise sounded from somewhere close by, following by a small snort. Riddell frowned and slowly directed his torch down towards the floor, his beam of light falling on a rather small Tyrannosaurus Rex lying on the ground between him and the three women, seemingly fast asleep. On the ground by Riddell's legs was a large nest, filled with several large white eggs, not yet hatched. Amy and Nefertiti's mouths fell open, while Riddell paled.

The Hatter released a long breath, her eyes fixed on the dinosaur lying between them and Riddell, grunting in its sleep, "Well…this is unfortunate," she breathed, swallowing hard.

"Okay…" Amy murmured, staring down at the dinosaur, "At a guess…T-Rex, not yet full size".

"It would seem so, yes," the Time Lady nodded, keeping her voice barely above a whisper, eyeing the small nest of eggs warily, "I think we've managed to stumble across the T-Rex's nesting area, which means that there is likely to be some very, very protective mummy dinosaurs who will be most displeased to wake up to find us around their unhatched babies," she winced slightly, knowing from personal experience just how protective a mother was for their child. They wouldn't make it two feet before being torn apart if that dinosaur woke up, let alone if they attracted the attention of any other possible nesting dinosaurs in the vicinity.

"I propose a retreat," Riddell whispered, and began to turn back the way that they had come, only to stop at the sight of shadows of more dinosaurs approaching from down the hallway they had just walked down, looking like a fully grown T-Rex, "Or perhaps forwards".

"Probably wise, yeah," the brunet agreed, casting the shadows a brief, slightly worried look.

"Just don't wake the baby," Amy added quickly, looking nervously down to the dinosaur between Riddell and them.

Riddell turned back around and took a shaky breath, lifting his foot up over the top of the dinosaurs neck, when a loud crunching noise sounded as he accidently stepped on a piece of broken shell. He froze, his eyes widening as he stood almost straddling the dinosaur as it gave a loud grunting noise, but slowly, its breathing evened out again and it continued sleeping peacefully. He sighed in relief and began to pull his other leg over, almost losing his balance before the Hatter reached out and carefully grabbed his arm, helping him to regain his balance. He grinned, laughing slightly as he threw his arm over the Hatter's shoulders, while Amy and Nefertiti shook their heads, not impressed.

"Hmm…" he sniffed the air, smirking slyly at the Time Lady, "What is that delightful smell?"

The Hatter gave him a mocking smile, "It's called married and completely not interested," she lightly shrugged his arm off her shoulders, already turning to start leading the way off down the hallway once more. She had to give him credit; Riddell certainly didn't let anything get in the way of his flirting. She glanced back over her shoulder to him, smirking back at him, "Besides, Riddell, you and I would _never_ work. I hate guns, the killing of innocent beings, and I'm kind of several centuries too old for you".

Amy's eyebrows rose slightly, quickly hurrying to catch up with the Time Lady, "Who is he and how do you two even _know_ each other?" she asked curiously. Riddell didn't seem like someone the Hatter would hang out with, let alone the Doctor, what with Riddell's little flirty smirks and comments towards the Time Lady.

"John Riddell," Riddell called from behind them, over hearing Amy's question, "Big game hunter on the African plains. I'm sure you've heard of me, too," he smirked confidently and ran his finger briefly across the brim of his hat.

Amy glanced back over her shoulder to him, shaking her head blankly, "No," she said, making the Hatter smile faintly.

His expression fell slightly, "You clearly have some alarming gaps in your education".

"Or men who hunt defenceless creatures just don't impact history," she shrugged, "Face it, she's _way_ cooler then you," she said in a sing-song voice, nodding over to Nefertiti.

"And you, Amy," Nefertiti raised her eyebrows, looking quite pleased, "Are you also a Queen?"

The Hatter grinned, slinging her arm over Amy's shoulders as she blinked slightly, "Of course she's a Queen," she said brightly, winking at Amy, "Queen of Rory's heart".

Amy laughed slightly at that as they continued moving through the ship.

….

The Doctor wondered closer to the cliff face as Astra tried grabbing at his bowtie again, Rory and Brian trailing right behind him. He broke into a grin as he noticed a square panel disguised cleverly as stone set into the cliff and moved across to it, reaching out to touch the panel, which automatically slide upwards to reveal a hidden computer screen with information flashing across the screen.

"See?" he cheered happily, pointing to the screen as he looked down to Astra, while Rory and Brian gathered around him, "Metal floors, screen in rocks. Not everything is what it appears, my little star," he dropped a kiss on top of her head, before glancing back to the humans; "It was just a matter of a short range teleport. We're still on the ship," he turned back to the screen, looking at the information.

"No," Brian frowned, shaking his head, "We're outside on a beach".

"It's _part_ of the ship, Dad," Rory tried to explain to him, looking passed the Doctor to him.

His frown deepened, "Don't be ridiculous".

"Well, it is quite ridiculous," the Doctor commented, looking back and forth between father and son, "Also, brilliant," he smiled slightly, "That's why the system teleported us here. I wanted the engines. _This_ …" he whirled back around to face the beach, holding out his free hand, "…is the engine room!" he cried, quite excited, making Astra coo happily and smile up at him, apparently amused, "Hydro-generators! Ha!"

Brian looked back to Rory, his expression blank, "I have literally no idea what he's saying".

"A spaceship powered by waves," Rory told him, having been around the Doctor and the Hatter long enough to be able to grasp what they were saying…usually. Plus, the word 'hydro' was rather a big hint that it had something to do with water, and they were standing on a beach…

The Doctor grinned and spun back around, throwing his free arm over Rory's shoulder, "Fabulously impossible!" he said excitedly, "Oh, the Hatter is going to _love_ this! Think of the things we could learn from this ship if we manage to stop it being blown to pieces".

"Plus, not dying," Rory added quickly, giving him a pointed look.

"Bad news," he continued as he looked back to the screen, ignoring Rory's comment "Can't shut the wave system down in time. Takes…" he spun back around and eyed the creatures flying in the sky, just as he heard one of them give a loud screech. His fears were right, they weren't kestrels, they were Pterodactyls. He winced slightly, eyeing them nervously as he clutched Astra protectively, "Takes way too long…" he trailed off, not taking his eyes off the creatures.

Rory didn't seem to notice anything off, busy looking at the readings on the screen, "If these are the engines, there must be a control room," he said thoughtfully.

"Exactly," he spun back around, nodding, "That's what we need to find. Now…" he lowered his voice to barely a whisper, looking quickly between Rory and Brian, "What do we do about the things that aren't kestrels?"

Slowly, they all turned around and looked up at the creatures, the human's eyes widening in shock as the creatures flew closer, screeching loudly as they flapped around above them, very clearly not birds. Astra tried reaching out towards them, babbling excitedly about wanting a pet Pterodactyl for Christmas instead of a kitten now.

"Oh my Lord…" Brian breathed, stunned, "Are those Pterodactyls?"

"Yes," the Doctor confirmed, carefully trying to turn Astra away from the creatures, but she was putting up a bit of a fight, "On any other occasion, I'd be thrilled. Exposed on a beach with my daughter who doesn't seem to understand that dinosaurs aren't cuddly animals to play with…less thrilled," he sighed, managing to wrangle Astra so that she was now looking over his shoulder, glancing quickly back to the humans, "We should be going".

They began running off along the side of the cliff, the humans right behind him as the Pterodactyls started flying closer.

"Where?" Brian called from behind him.

"Er, definitely away from them!" he replied, pausing briefly to throw the creatures a wary look, groaning slightly as Astra fussing, "Astra, _no_ , you can't play with the flying dinosaurs. You're mother would murder me in my sleep, for starters…" he muttered, trying to bounce her and run all at the same time.

" _That's_ the plan?" Rory exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief.

"That's the plan. Amendments welcome. Move away from the Pterodactyls!"

Rory's steps faulted as he looked back up at the sky, his eyes widening at the sight of even more Pterodactyls converging above them, screeching and flapping their wings, seeming to be heading straight for them, "I think they might be noticing!" he shouted, alarmed.

The Doctor looked back up too, panic starting to flare in his chest knowing that if those things attacked them, he would have no way of trying to shield Astra from them, let alone Rory and Brian, "Amendment one, run!" he said hurriedly, picking up his pace again, while Astra continued to complain very loudly about missing out on the fun.

"Why don't we just teleport or something?" Rory asked as he hurried along behind the Doctor.

"No! Local teleport burnt out on arrival. There's something in the cliff over there!"

They began running for where he had pointed and just up ahead of them, an opening of a cave appeared to be partly hidden in the cliff face, still looking nervously over their shoulders as they went as the swarm of Pterodactyl grew larger and closer, their screeching almost deafening.

Rory glanced at his father, who was starting to lag behind, "Come on!" he urged him, gesturing with his hand for him to keep going.

"I'm trying!" Brian shouted back, looking very pale as he struggled to keep up, the Doctor already several steps ahead of them.

They were just a few feet away from the cave's entrance when the swarm began swopping them, one of them managing to try and take a swing at Rory's shoulder with its claws, just grazing him as Rory yelped in pain, stumbling slightly. Brian hit the Pterodactyl away with his fold-up trowel, just as they ran into the safety of the cave, the humans panting for breath as Rory grimaced painfully, leaning against one of the uneven, rocky walls, clutching at his sore shoulder. Outside, the rest of the Pterodactyl's continued screeching loudly, but none of them attempted to get into the cave.

Astra made a concerned grumble and tried to reach out towards Rory, making the Doctor smile softly as he glanced down at her. And there was the Hatter coming out, Astra's gentle heart and compassion that was so very like her mother, though the Hatter would likely say that it was him that she got it from.

"Are you alright?" Brian asked Rory, moving towards him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Rory shook his head, wincing still as he doubled over slightly, still holding his shoulder. The Doctor moved to his side, letting Astra try and reach out to clumsily grab Rory's cardigan, "Right, what do we do now?" he looked up to the Doctor, "There's no way back out there".

"Through the cave," the Doctor replied, "Come on," he turned and began leading them off down a tunnel that was at the back of the cave, when he stopped suddenly as a loud thumping noises sounded down the tunnel, sounding like footsteps. He held up a finger to Rory and Brian, "That suggestion was a work in progress…"

"We're trapped!" Brian gasped, looking quickly back over his shoulder to the cave entrance, still hearing the screeching of the Pterodactyl's from outside.

He sighed, "Yes, thanks for spelling it out," he muttered sarcastically, before automatically wincing, half-expecting the Hatter to have whacked his arm before he remembered that she wasn't even with them, something he very much intended to fix…though, at that very moment, he supposed he ought to be grateful that she wasn't with him.

"Doctor, whatever's down there is coming this way…" Rory began, moving away from the wall to stand behind him.

"Spelling it out is heredity. Wonderful!"

"That sound's getting nearer," Brian murmured worriedly as the thumper grew louder.

The Doctor listened and grimaced slightly, feeling the floor beneath them starting to shake with each thump. He began to back back closer to the humans, looking warily at the tunnel, but they had nowhere to try and run to now. Astra made a small noise of distress and turned her face into his neck, when two very large yellow robots suddenly stepped into view, one sparking lightly as its shoulder knocked against a rock, both of them looking quite rusted and worse for wear. They stared back at them carefully.

"We're very cross with you," one of the robots said sternly, in a mechanically nasally voice, waving an arm in the Doctor's direction.

The Doctor blinked and slowly began to smile, glancing back to Rory and Brian, who simply shrugged blankly before turning back to the robots. Oh, the Hatter would have loved these two.

…

The Hatter pulled a face as she led her small group through a doorway, looking around the room that was covered with overgrown vines and ivy, looking more like a small jungle then a laboratory, judging by the equipment and bits of glass wear that she was able to see through all the planet matter, but it wasn't so much the vines that made her grimace, rather the spider webs that seemed to cover almost every surface that wasn't already covered by ivy. She really, really hated spiders.

"Bit of weed killer wouldn't go amiss in here," Amy remarked, trailing along behind the Time Lady, holding her torch up.

"Not to mention some bug spray," the brunet muttered, resisting the urge to shiver as she felt her hand brush against a piece of web. She didn't have time to be getting freaked out over webs; she needed to figure out who this ship belonged to, what happened to them, and how to track her husband and child down, preferably all at once.

"Whoever was running this vassal left in a hurry," Riddell said, looking around the room with a small frown.

"Maybe a plague came and took them," Nefertiti suggested, shining her torch into a patch of tightly growing ivy.

He shook his head, shining his torch around on the ground, "No, there'd be corpses and bones".

"Unless the animals ate them".

"Whoa, Chuckle Brothers," Amy looked back over her shoulder to them, "Lighten up, would ya?"

"Second that," the Hatter added absently, busy trying to see passed all of the foliage, when she caught sight of something and broke into a broad smile, "Ah, just what I was after!"

She practically skipped across to the other side of the room and paused briefly to grab a large leaf off a nearby planet, using it to wipe away bits of spider web that covered the keypad and screen of a computer. She pulled a face at the leaf as she quickly dropped it onto the floor, smiling brightly as she reached out to press two of the controls, making the lights of the room turn on and the computer system boot up. Amy, Riddell, and Nefertiti moved to stand around her, looking up briefly as the lights over head turned on.

"Good, we have lights and power," the brunet said happily, quickly scanning the screen, "Now, I need…this," she smirked slightly as she grabbed a small white sphere off the top of the equipment, sitting it onto a small tray set into the controls, before pressing a small green button on the side of the screen, making the tray slid back into the machinery.

The screen flickered for a moment before an image of a square filled the middle of it, filled with static, "One hundred and seventeen years…" a male voice came over the speaker.

"Oh, I get it," Amy nodded, smiling at the Time Lady, "It's a data record".

"Exactly," the Hatter pointed at her, grinning, "Well done, Amy".

"That's the ship's owners?" Riddell eyed the screen.

"More than likely," she glanced back to him, before frowning slightly as she turned back to the screen, "Now, let's see if I can get this static to clear…" she began typing something into the keypad.

"…will remain cryogenic…" the voice continued.

A low growl sounded and Riddell looked back through the doorway that they had entered through, shining his torch at the corridor, lighting up the shadow of a T-Rex as it gave another roar before it turned and disappeared out of sight once more.

"…while they sleep, I will continue to work…"

"Oh, I've almost got it…" the Hatter sighed, still typing away, certain she had seen this type of equipment before, she just hadn't worked on it.

"…far beyond our…"

"One last thing," the Time Lady twisted a dial and hit one last button, instantly clearing up the static to reveal a Silurian sitting before a camera, speaking into it, "Oh…" she breathed as Amy gasped, "This explains everything…well, the _dinosaurs_ , anyway…"

"Oh, it's beautiful," Nefertiti said softly, leaning in closer towards the screen, staring at the lizard-like alien.

"…I can't tell how far we have come," the recording went on as they all watched, "Far enough to avoid the destructive forces for our planet. Far enough for me to feel a profound sense of loss…"

The Hatter winced at those last words, ducking her head briefly. Yes, she certainly could understand that sense of loss, too, but at least the Silurian's planet still survived, she couldn't say the same for her own home.

"What is _that_?" Riddell asked, frowning at the screen.

The Time Lady lifted her head and exchanged a look with Amy, "Silurian," they said in unison.

 _ **I'm not sure if I'll get the next chapter up before News Years, so I'm going to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year now. I hope you all have a great time, eat lots of sweets, and spend time with family. Now, having said that I'm not sure if I'll get a chance to post the next chapter, I will more than likely be posting the requested story for what would have happened if Nine, Eleven, or Twelve had found the Hatter on New Years and it will, at this point, be called 'What If?' so keep an eye out for that in the coming week.**_

 _ **I wasn't sure about separating the Doctor and the Hatter at first, but then I watched the episode and I realised how much fun I could actually have with it, plus it gives you guys an insight into how the Hatter might have been with her own companions. I kind of feel like the Hatter and Riddell kind of have the same relationship as the Tenth Doctor had with Jack, not completely approving but yet still friendly, maybe a little overly friendly on Riddell's part.**_

 _ **Next chapter, the Hatter really doesn't have time to deal with flirty humans, more of Astra's Hatter side is showing, and Solomon reminds the Doctor very strongly of someone. I hope you liked it and all have a wonderful holiday's! Please review :)**_


	5. Chapter 5 Dinosaurs on a Spaceship,Part2

_**Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, Part 2**_

"You're going straight on the naughty step," one of the robots told them as the Doctor walked ahead of both robots down a dusty hallway of the ship, lightly bouncing Astra as they went, while Rory and Brian followed alongside him.

"What's the escape plan?" Brian whispered out of the corner of his mouth to the Doctor.

The Doctor glanced at him, smiling, "Why do we want to escape?" he questioned just as softly.

"They have us _hostage_ ".

"They're taking us somewhere," Rory muttered out of the side of his mouth, looking passed the Doctor and Astra to his father, "We might learn from it".

The Doctor's smile grew even wider, "Oh, you see?" he reached out and pinched Rory's cheek with his free hand, making Rory wince slightly, "He's so clever! I've missed you, Rory," he cooed at him, releasing his cheek, making Astra give a little giggle.

He pulled a face, pointing at him, "Don't do that".

"What if they kill us?" Brian said out of the corner of his mouth, looking quite tense.

"They wouldn't do that," the Doctor shook his head, still smiling happily as he stopped and spun around on the heel of his boot, looking up at the robots, "You're not going to kill us, are you, Rusty?" he lightly slapped one of the robots chests, making it echo loudly.

"Who are you calling Rusty?" the second robot demanded, apparently quite offended.

"Have you seen yourselves lately?" he grinned.

"You try being on a ship for two millennia," the first one shot back, "See how _your_ paintwork does!"

"Don't listen to him," the second robot turned to his pair, "He's just being mean because we captured him".

"Oh, my goodness!" Brian suddenly exclaimed, staring at something behind them, his eyes wide with amazement.

Rory glanced at him and frowned slightly, turning around, only to give a little jump of surprise, "Whoa!"

The Doctor turned to see for himself, his eyes lighting up in delight at the sight of a large Triceratops approaching them from the other end of the hallway, "Ooh!" he cheered, and Astra squealed excitedly, immediately trying to grab for the creature. He smiled down at her, pleased that it wasn't just dangerous dinosaurs that she seemed to like, the Hatter would certainly be pleased about that, "Yes, I know, my little star," he adjusted her in his arms so that she could get a better look, "Another dinosaur, and he's a herbivore. That means he only eats plants," he glanced back to Brian and Rory, only to find them staring, open mouthed, at the creature, "Don't panic. Triceratops. Ha!" he bent down slightly as the dinosaur neared them, Astra still trying to grab at it, "Beautiful, isn't it, Astra?

"Er, shall I shoot it?" the first robot looked back to the second.

"We're not supposed to shoot the creatures," the second one replied, actually sounding annoyed, "Stupid!"

"Stop calling me stupid!"

The Triceratops reached them and gave Astra and the Doctor a little sniff, before giving a loud roar, ruffling Astra's bow, but the baby simply squealed back at it and smiled widely, dribbling in her excitement as she reached out to clumsily grasp the dinosaurs nose horn, while the Doctor laughed at just how delighted Astra was to get a chance to touch a dinosaur, patting the creatures nose.

"'Roar' yourself!" he said to the creature, not in any way bothered by the noise, keeping an eye on Astra's hands to make sure she didn't try and stick it in the dinosaurs mouth or eyes, "Hello, cutie pie," he cooed, giving it a little scratch between its eyes, "Good boy. Who's a good Tricey, eh?" he gently took Astra's hand and helped her to stroke the animals head, since her fine motor skills weren't quite developed enough to let her do more them clumsily grab at things, "Yes, you are," he grinned at the animal, acting like it was a pet dog, "Yes, you are…" Astra babbled something excitedly, talking so fast that even the Doctor struggled to understand just what she had said for a moment, before his eyes widened in alarm, "Um…somehow I don't think mummy would let you keep Tricey as a pet, no," he said warily, imaging the Hatter's face, "How about you stick to something a little smaller…" he sighed as she babbled something else, "No, not a lion…maybe pick something a little less… _deadly_ ".

"What do I do?" Brian suddenly gasped, holding his arms up beside him, quite panicked as the dinosaur, apparently losing interest in the Doctor and Astra, moved across to sniff him, "What do I do?" he almost cried out as the Doctor glanced down, only to blink and straighten as he found the dinosaur sniffing at the front of Brian's trousers, "What's it doing?"

The Doctor looked back to Brian, who looked completely terrified, "You don't have any vegetable matter in your trousers, do you, Brian?" he asked him, seeing no other explanation.

"Only my balls".

Rory cringed and slapped his hand over his eyes, while the Doctor gave Brian a startled look, glancing quickly down to Astra, wondering if he ought to try covering her ears. He shook his head, deciding that she was thankfully too young to understand and looked back up to Brian, "I'm sorry?" he frowned slightly.

"Golf balls," Brian explained, and pulled two out of his trouser pocket, "Grassy residue".

Rory uncovered his eyes, giving him an odd look, "What are you carrying those around for?"

He went to answer, when the dinosaur gave a little roar and suddenly licked Brian's face, leaving a trail of thick saliva behind, "Urgh!" the man grimaced, completely disgusted as slime dripped down his face, "Urgh! Argh!"

"Aww," the Doctor grinned, while Astra gave a little giggle of delight, "Bless".

"Get it away from me!"

He resisted against the urge to make a Hatter-like remark about how Tricey seemed to like him, instead saying, "Throw one," he nodded to one of the golf balls.

"Really?" Brian looked back to the dinosaur, holding up one of the balls, still dripping saliva down his front, "Is this what you want? Is it?" he threw the ball off down the hallway the dinosaur had come down and the creature turned, taking off after it.

The Doctor smiled and looked back to Brian, patting his back, "And breathe out," he told him, poor Brian almost collapsing from the sheer relief as he doubled over, breathing heavily. The Doctor turned back to the two robots, "Right!" he grinned cheerfully, "Take us to your leader".

Rory eyed him as he spun back around, "Really?"

"Too good to resist," he shrugged, still grinning as Astra smiled up at him, amused. He set them off again walking down the hallway with the robots following, wondering just what the Hatter might be up to right now…

…

The Hatter listened intently to the recording of the Silurian on the computer screen, while Amy, Riddell, and Nefertiti stood gathered around her and the screen, watching, too.

"Of the fifty species loaded," the recording continued, "Only one has had any difficulty surviving. All the others are thieving, and we expect them to be able to repopulate".

"Ah, so that explains it, then," the Hatter said thoughtfully, nodding more to herself then to the others, "This is an Ark, specifically a _Silurian_ Ark," she smiled faintly, glancing at Amy, "Explains the dinosaurs. What else would the Silurian's have taken with them when they believed the world was going to end?"

"Lizard people herding dinosaurs onto a Space Ark?" Riddell frowned at the Time Lady, scoffing. The Hatter didn't even glance at him, still listening to the recording, "Absolute tommyrot!"

Nefertiti straightened and turned towards him, glaring, "Only an idiot denies the evidence of their own eyes," she pointed back towards the screen.

"Egyptian Queen or not, I shall put you across my knee and spank you".

Amy's eyebrows rose, glancing back over her shoulder to them, "Oh, Lord…" she looked back to the Hatter, lowering her voice, "Aren't you going to intervene?"

"Oh, trust me," the Hatter smirked slyly, not taking her eyes off the screen, "Queenie is _more_ than a match for him".

"Try," Nefertiti dared Riddell, taking a step towards him, looking deadly serious, "And I'll snap your neck in a heartbeat".

"Hmm," Riddell hummed, eyeing her, "Well, they certainly bred firecrackers in your time".

The Time Lady sighed, closing her eyes briefly, "Blimey, the flirting," she muttered, shaking her head, "Why do I always end up with the flirty or lovesick companions? The Doctor's barely had any issue dealing with this sort of thing, so why do I always get companions like this?" she looked up to Amy, pointing up to her face, "Do I have a face that says that I want to be surrounded by flirting humans or something?"

"That's rich coming from you, Hatter," Amy laughed, nudging her side, "You and the Doctor, the amount of times I've walked in on you two…"

"Okay, that's quite enough!" the Hatter cut in hurriedly, her cheeks flushing red and her eyes widening in panic as she quickly turned away from Amy, throwing Riddell and Nefertiti a tired look, "Riddell, Queenie, stop flirting or just get it over and done with and kiss, I don't have time to deal with your romantic lives right now, not when I'm busy enough as it is, thank you."

She gave them both a quick smile and a thumbs-up before whirling back around, looking intently back to the screen as if nothing had happened, ignoring the shocked looks the humans were giving her. She was just busy trying to find a way to get back to her husband and child, she didn't have time for the amusement of watching Riddell trying to flirt with Nefertiti and no doubt getting challenged with each attempted…okay, so maybe she _did_ have little bit of time for it. It was rather amusing.

Nefertiti recovered first, looking back to Riddell with a proud expression, "The Hatter may be a strange and confusing woman…" the Hatter smiled and held up her hand, taking that as a compliment…until Amy slowly lowered her arm, shaking her head, "But she helped to save my people," she continued, glaring at Riddell, "I trust her. Stop doubting her".

"Thank you, Queenie," the Hatter flashed her a bright smile, before sticking her tongue out at Riddell as she turned back to the screen.

Riddell eyed both women for a moment, glancing back to the screen, "If this ship was built by…" he began, frowning.

"Silurian's, yeah," Amy cut in, smirking slightly at knowing the name.

"Yeah, where are they?"

The Hatter glanced back to him, her eyebrows raising slightly, "Excellent question, Riddell," she gave him an approving look, which only made him smirk smugly, Nefertiti and Amy rolling their eyes. She turned back to the screen, frowning thoughtfully, "Computer, bring up all life signs for Homo Reptilia," she ordered it.

The recording disappeared on the screen and was instead replaced by an image of the ship, the system scanning it for a moment before the words 'No Life Signs Detected' flashed across the screen. The Hatter's frown deepened, not liking that result one little bit.

"But where have they gone?" Amy wondered aloud, looking to the Hatter in confusion.

"Perhaps they found another world," Nefertiti commented, shrugging, "Left the ship".

"No, they wouldn't have just left the dinosaurs behind if they found another planet," the Hatter shook her head, eyeing the screen, feeling increasingly more concerned about just what might have happened. She was starting to get a very bad feeling about all of this, "And look at the state of this place," she continued, waving a hand around at all the spider webs and overgrown ivy, "This place didn't turn into a miniature jungle within a matter of hours, it's been like this for _years_. And why is this ship heading back to Earth, too?" she frowned again, shaking her head with a grim expression, "They would never just send the ship off, back to Earth, with the dinosaurs still on it".

"It doesn't make sense," Amy agreed, nodding along with her as she looked to the screen, "So what's changed between then and now?"

"Let's find out," she focused back onto the screen, "Computer, show me an image of the ship's life signs upon launching," she ordered it, looking carefully at the image of the ship that was brought up, covered in tiny little dots of life signs, "Right, now show me an image of the ship today with all life signs," she sighed, though she was unsurprised as the image changed to show just a tiny scattering of markers over the image of the ship.

"Thousands less," Amy remarked, shaking her head slowly as she turned to the brunet, "But _why_?"

"Amy," the Hatter glanced at her, raising an eyebrow, "When you were a kid, were you any good at playing those spot the difference puzzles?" Amy blinked slightly, looking a little surprised as the Time Lady gave her a little wink and turned back to the screen, "Computer, be a dear and show me both of those images, launch and present, side by side".

The two images of the ship appeared on the screen beside each other, making it even more apparent just how few life signs there were left on the ship.

"What are you looking for?" Riddell asked, watching them.

"Oh, okay," Amy pointed at the Hatter, catching on to what she was talking about, "Two images. Spot the difference".

"Exactly," she gave her a quick smile, glancing back to Riddell, "Come on, Riddell, just think like Sherlock Holmes and look for the differences…" she paused, eyeing him thoughtfully, "Though, maybe you're more of a Lestrade then a Holmes…"

"Hatter," the red head cut in, seeing her getting distracted, "Spotting the difference, remember? Looking for what changed? What happened to the Silurians?"

"The centre," Nefertiti said suddenly, pointing to the middle of the current image of the ship.

The Hatter blinked slightly in mild surprise and leaned in closer towards the image, "Computer, zoom into the centre of the image of the present ship, please," she told it, watching carefully as the computer began to zoom into the middle of the ship, frame by frame, when it zoomed in close enough to show a spaceship sitting in the middle of the ship, glowing red on the screen, "Ah, that will do, computer," she sighed heavily, eyeing the image, "Now, that isn't good".

"What is it?" Riddell questioned, leaning in closer to get a look, too.

"Another spaceship," Amy gasped, her eyes widening as she quickly looked to the Hatter.

The Hatter nodded to her, straightening, "It would seem that this ship has been boarded once before," she said grimly.

…

The robots continued to lead the Doctor, Rory, and Brian through the corridors of the ship, not coming across another dinosaur on their journey, much to the Doctor and Astra's disappointment. They turned a corner and began to walk down another hallway, only to find themselves stepping through the doorway of another spaceship that seemed to be attached to the main ship. The Doctor looked around curiously as they went, trying to discern any specific features about this new ship that might give them a clue about just who and what was going on, but is seemed to be just a basic, standard spaceship, nothing of any great importance that he could see. They soon came to a gate that blocked the doorway ahead of them, bits of spider web and vines twisting around the metal work as the sound of soft, classical piano music playing softly from the room beyond reached his ears as he peered through the bars.

"Love what you've done to the place down here," he commented, eyeing the bed that he could just make out through the bars, guessing that someone was likely in it.

"Let him in," a man's voice called from within the darkened room, "Open the gate".

One of the robots reached out and pressed a red button on the wall by the entrance, making the gate slide open. The Doctor went to move forward, when he hesitated and looked down to Astra, not entirely comfortably about entering into the room with this mysterious, possibly dangerous man with his daughter, but he also wouldn't be of much use with only one arm. He sighed and turned back around to Rory.

"Would you hold Astra for me?" he asked him, earning a look from the baby in his arms. He smiled down at her reassuringly, "It'll only be for a tick, my littler star".

Rory reached out and took Astra from him, the baby still not looking overly happy about being separated from the Doctor, having already been complaining on the way to this place that she was missing her mother, "I'll look after her," Rory assured him, adjusting Astra more comfortably in his arms.

The Doctor gave him a quick, grateful smile and quickly took Astra's hand, kissing the back of it before he turned and stepped through the open doorway, but the second he crossed the threshold, the bared door slid closed behind him. He spun back around, startled to see Rory looking back to him through the bars with a concerned look, Astra trying to reach for him with a grumpy expression.

"It's fine," he told them soothingly, his eyes resting a moment longer on Astra, very dearly hoping she wouldn't end up getting upset and crying. Astra loved Rory and Amy, but she was quite clingy when it came to the Hatter and him while they were out on adventures, he was rather surprised she hadn't fussed to much about not having the Hatter with them, "It's fine," he gave them a small smile and looked curiously back over towards the bed, trying to figure out just what he had walked into, a trap or hostage situation? Possibly both.

"He's not interested in _you_ ," the first robot mocked Rory, sounding like a child as they stood just outside the entrance.

"Look," Rory turned around and walked closer to the robots, while Astra tried to look over his shoulder, back to the gate, "You need to learn some manners".

"No, _you_ need to learn some manners!"

He glared at them, pointing his finger at the first robot, "No, _you_ do!"

"No, _you_ do, Mister Manners!" the second robot cut in.

Rory went to retort, when Astra gave an annoyed grumble and wacked her arm rather hard against his shoulder, narrowly missing smacking the side of his head. He winced slightly and closed his mouth, glancing down at her. Maybe there really was more of the Hatter in Astra then the Time Lady kept saying, accident or not, it certainly seemed like something the Hatter might do to the Doctor.

The Doctor struggled not to burst out laughing as he watched the exchange from between the gate bars, shaking his head fondly as he turned to start moving further into the darkened room, imagining that the Hatter would be quite proud…once she stopped scolding Astra for hitting people, anyway. He looked around curiously, eyeing the medical equipment that was positioned around the hospital bed in the middle of the room, a curtain partly obscuring the bed from the gate, wires and tubes connected back to an old man with long grey hair and stubble, looking slightly breathless as he laid on his back. There was cobwebs and dust covering even the machinery, meaning that the man must have been hooked up to it for quite some time. The sound of the classical music playing was louder now.

"Fantasia in F minor for four hands," he said with a small smile, listening to the soft music.

"You know it?" the man looked up to him, seeming mildly surprised.

"Know it?" his smile grew even wider, laughing slightly, "Say hello to hands three and four!" he held up his hands, wiggling his fingers pointedly, before clasping his hands together, "Schubert kept tickling me to try and put me off. Franz the hands," he laughed again, "And my wife, she was no help! She kept giggling and telling Schubert where to tickle me. Oh, that takes me back," he shook his head fondly, before he sighed slightly and cast his eyes around the gloomy, makeshift hospital, "Well, this is…cozy," he eyed the spider webs covering the equipment before moving to take a closer look at the rest of the equipment, struggling against the urge to smile, thinking about the Hatter's dislike for them. He wondered what she would do if he covered the console room in fake spider webs just to prank her. Probably push him into a supernova.

"It's fate you came," the man breathed.

"Is it?" the Doctor glanced back over to him, his eyebrows raising slightly, "I'm the Doctor…"

"Yes, I know," he interrupted him, smiling widely, "I'm Solomon".

The Doctor wondered away from the bed, eyeing some of the medical equipment curiously, when a bright purple beam of light suddenly shot out from one of the machines that he was passing, moving through him quickly as he stopped, staring at it in confusion and mild alarm, before the light disappeared, "What's that?" he asked, frowning as he turned back towards the bed.

"System malfunction. Ignore it".

He continued to frown deeply, not convinced that Solomon was telling him the truth as he edged closer to the bed, eyeing him, "What happened to you?"

"I was attacked. Three raptors. They cornered me. The robots rescued me, but it was nearly too late".

"Ah, yes," the Doctor nodded, moving back around to the front of the bed, "The robots. They're…unusual," he glanced back over towards the gate, thinking that he was probably putting it quite lightly. The Hatter would probably find them amusing…though, he also imagined that she would come to quite dislike them very quickly, too. Neither of them were overly fond of robots, save for K-9.

"I got them cheap from a concession of Alyria Seven. The robots did as best they could with my legs, but…you can help me so much more".

He blinked, his eyes widening as it suddenly hit him just why Solomon seemed to think that it was fate that he was here, "Oh, a 'doctor' doctor," he pointed at him, breaking into a smile, "I see," he paused, considering it, but he decided not to mention that the Hatter would have been a better choice than him, considering that she was properly trained as one, but he didn't trust Solomon and if he mentioned that, he feared that he might insist on the Hatter being brought to him. He really didn't want that to happen, so he continued to smile and lightly blew on his hands, rubbing them together to try warming them up before moving to lean over Solomon's legs, "Let's have a look," he pulled the makeshift bandage off his lower leg, near his ankle, grimacing slightly as he eyed the large, gaping wound and the bone clearly visible that looked splintered in places.

"They chewed through part of the bone in my legs," Solomon told him.

"Yes," the Doctor agreed, quite shocked by just how horrific his injury truly was. It was amazing that the man was still alive, really. He swallowed and carefully placed the bandage back over the wound, "Very nasty".

Solomon looked back to his face, struggling to get another breath in to speak for a moment, "But you can repair them," he said, seeming to be completely certain about that.

He straightened and look back up to his face, not liking the fact that he made that a statement, not a request, not even a question, it was stated as if that was it and nothing else would be accepted, and he had a feeling that that was exactly the type of man Solomon was. Someone who didn't take 'no' for an answer, in fact, Solomon was starting to remind him a little bit of the Hatter's first husband, they both seemed to have the same expectations that whatever they wanted or demanded will happen without question, but that wasn't how he worked. He asked questions and he certainly had a number that he wanted to ask, even if it meant having to spend more time with a man who reminded him so strongly of someone he was very glad was now dead. He didn't know what he would have done to the Hatter's first husband, knowing the truth, if they came face to face again. So, he gritted his teeth and forced himself not to outwardly react.

"If you tell me how you came by so many dinosaurs".

Solomon's expression grew harder and the faint smile on his face vanished almost instantly as he touched a button on a small device that he had clasped in his hands, looking away from the Doctor as he called, "Injure the older one".

"What?" the Doctor's head snapped up, his eyes widening as he dashed away from the bed and over to the gate, skidding to a stop, just in time to see one of the robots fire a shot at Brian, hitting his shoulder, sending him crashing onto the ground.

"Dad!" Rory shouted as Astra began crying, distressed by the sight of Brian clutching painfully at his arm as Rory knelt beside him, struggling to try and help sit his father up against the wall, "Dad," he said frantically, hesitating before he carefully placed Astra onto the floor beside him, the baby's cries calming as she watched, before moving to try to checking him, "It's all right, Dad! It's okay!"

The Doctor watched for a moment longer, desperately wishing he could be out there to make sure that Brian was okay, the poor man never having agreed to being placed in such a dangerous situation in the first place, and that wasn't even to mention the fact that he wished he could comfort Astra in her distress, if she was anything like the Hatter she would be feeling terribly concerned for Brian right now. He whirled back around and stormed over to the bed, glaring down at Solomon.

"I don't respond well to violence, Solomon," he warned him, struggling to keep his voice level, leaving out just how angry it made him to know that Astra had been there, placed in possible harm's way and had to witness someone being hurt like that. He didn't know how much Solomon knew; he didn't want to give away who Astra was if it was possible.

"And I don't like questions, Doctor," Solomon replied coldly, "You boarded without my permission. Now, fix me, or the next bolt will be fatal".

The Doctor looked back over towards the gate, his jaw set in a hard line, knowing that he had no other choice in the matter. He wouldn't allow anyone to die today, even if it meant having to comply with this man's demands…for now.

…

The Hatter sighed heavily, resisting against the very tempting urge to kick the computer before her as her attempts to locate exactly where on the ship the Doctor, Astra, Rory, and Brian were right now failed for the third time. She had scanned the ship three times now, attempting each time to use a slightly different method of getting the ship to scan for their life signs, figuring that it really shouldn't be too hard given that they were the only humanoid species that ought to be on the ship, but no such luck. Even trying to search manually had failed and after a good ten minutes of trying to find them by hacking into the security cameras, she had been forced to concede defeat. That didn't mean that she didn't have an inkling as to where they might be, however, after all, that second ship wouldn't have any connection to this ships computers or cameras, meaning that if they weren't anywhere that she could see on the main ship, there was a decent chance they had wound up on the second ship. Preferably on their own free will.

"What is it?" Amy asked quickly, looking worriedly to the Time Lady, not at all liking the frown on her face right now, "Can't you find them?"

"No, I can't," she admitted, straightening with a small glare directed towards the screen, though she knew it was hardly the machines fault. That didn't stop her from still wanting to kick it, though if the Doctor knew he would likely find it very amusing, "Amy, you're mobile, please," she held out her hand towards her.

Amy frowned slightly and slowly pulled her phone out of jacket, eyeing her, "You're not going to pull it apart for parts again, are you?"

"That was _one_ time! Honestly, I borrow your phone once to try and stop us all from being blown up and I never hear the end of it".

"It's not 'borrowing' when you know you're not going to give it back," she muttered with a pointed look, though she still handed the phone over to her.

"I gave it back to you," the Hatter said quickly, before she smiled sheepishly, "Just…not quite in the same way that you gave it to me," she blushed faintly as she looked down at the phone, unlocking it easily without even needing to ask for the code and quickly going into Amy's contact list, finding Rory's name at the very top.

Amy shook her head at her, rolling her eyes, "Time Lords have a very different definition of what 'borrowing' means".

The Time Lady flashed her a grin, not about to deny that as she hit Rory's name and put the phone on speaker, listening to it ring briefly.

"Hello, missus," Rory answered after a moment.

"Not quite, Rory," the Hatter called back cheerfully, "But Amy is here beside me".

"Hi!" Amy added, relieved to hear her husband's voice.

"Hatter?" he said in surprise, just as the sound of Astra giving a loud cry sounded from his end, instantly making the Time Lady wince at the sound, wishing she was there with her baby.

"It's alright, my darling," she said gently, hoping Astra could hear her, "Mummy is working very hard to reunite us all, I just need you to be a brave little girl for Uncle Rory and your Father…" she paused, frowning slightly, "Speaking of, where exactly are you, Rory?"

"Still on board. Met some Pterodactyls and some rusty robots I'm going to _melt down_ …" he seemed to grit his teeth angrily as he finished.

"Rory," Amy cut in, sighing slightly, "This is a Silurian ship…"

"And that's not all," the Hatter said grimly, her expression very serious, "The Doctor needs to know about this, Rory…"

….

The Doctor, meanwhile, was busy preparing the surgical tools for the impending operation on Solomon, trying hard to ignore the man lying in the bed beside him as he focused on the tools in his hands, just wanting to get this operation over and done with so that he could rejoin his daughter, Rory, and Brian and try and a find way back to his wife.

"How did you get on board, Doctor?" Solomon asked after a few minutes of silence, looking up at him.

"Oh, I never talk about myself with a gun pointed at me," the Doctor replied lightly, still refusing to look at his face as he moved down towards the end of the bed, focusing on his bandaged leg, "Let's talk about you," he began removing the bandages, knowing that he was likely wondering into dangerous waters again, "Your cosy little craft embedded in a vast, old ship," he started operating on his leg, carefully trying to repair the damage done to the bone and surrounding tissue, Solomon not feeling any pain at all.

"Very observant," the man muttered, eyeing him closely.

"I'm a Sagittarius, probably…" he paused, considering it for a moment. The Hatter was an Aquarius, going by an Earth calendar and there was four months between them, so really, he was probably a Libra, but personally he always thought he was more like a Leo, an Aquarius's perfect match…not that he really took much stock in Star Signs, no Time Lord really did, but there was a belief that there was ancient group of beings that could use astrology to disobey the Laws of the Universe. He remembered the Hatter telling him about them when they had been children after she had read about them in a book of myths, the young Hatter had thought that there was a chance that the story might be true, he had been more dubious, but mainly only because he enjoyed seeing how bright eyed and excited she had been speaking about it.

"I'm transporting it to the Roxborne Peninsula," Solomon told him, jolting the Doctor from his thoughts, reminding him that he still had work to do before he could get lost in childhood memories.

The Doctor frowned slightly, glancing back up to him, recognising the name, "A commerce colony," his eyebrows raised, trying hard to keep the disgust from appearing on his face. In his experience, people who went to places like that were rarely very nice, "You're a trader".

"I search out opportunities for profit across nine galaxies".

"Ah, the purple light," he nodded; he hadn't been convinced for a second that it had just been a 'systems malfunction,' "That's what it was. An IV system: identifying value. The database of everything across space and time allocated a market value. Argos for the Universe," he paused, glancing back over to him, "You were trying to find out how much I'm worth".

"Would you like to know?" Solomon asked, and turned his head to look at a computer screen beside his bed as a scan of the Doctor appeared across the screen, calculating the data.

The Doctor looked across to it, too, feeling his hearts beat just a little bit faster as a small burst of concern swept over him, when the computer beeped after a moment and the words 'No Identification Found' flashed across the screen, making him slowly smirk. And there was the proof that all of the effort that he and the Hatter had put into erasing themselves and Astra from the Universe had actually worked, the sacrifice that they had made to part themselves from their daughter for almost a whole century had been worth it. To the rest of the Universe's databases and computers, none of them existed and that meant that Astra would be safe, that he and the Hatter could keep on travelling without fear of a threat like the Silence and Kovarian descending upon them again from out of the shadows. They might have been forced to leave Astra with friends while they went off for decades on end, only to return a few hours later to pick her up again, but it had been worth it for this.

"You don't exist," Solomon remarked, frowning slightly, "It's never done that".

"That's me," he smiled, feeling quite smug, "Worthless…" he resisted against the temptation to make a comment about the Hatter and Astra, about how they, to him, were completely priceless, but he was still hopeful that Solomon might not have figured out who Astra was to him, nor if he had noticed the Hatter yet. He took a deep breath, his smile fading, "Unlike these creatures you have on board," he went on, moving to sit one of the surgical tools down on a nearby table before picking up another tool, this one looking similar to a drill, "Very valuable…given that they're extinct," he moved back down to the end of the bed and activated the device, making it whir briefly as Solomon groaned painfully, before turning the device off, "Done," he announced, dropping the device and moving up to help Solomon, "Sit up, very slowly," he grabbed Solomon's shoulders and pulled him upright into a sitting position.

"Doctor?" Rory suddenly called through the gate's bars, catching his attention. He turned around to see Rory carrying Astra in one arm, holding out his mobile phone through the bars towards him, "The Hatter and Amy".

The Doctor instantly brightened, "I need to take this, my wife's calling," he muttered to Solomon, not giving the older man a chance to deny him as he dashed across to take the phone from Rory, giving Astra a soft smile and reached out to touch her cheek as he lifted the phone up to his ear, "Hello, dear, Amy".

"Sweetheart, listen closely," the Hatter began quickly on the other end, instantly making him tense. She sounded worried and very urgent, that was never a good sign, "This spaceship belongs to the Silurians, it was supposed to be their version of an Ark, hence all the…"

"…dinosaurs," the Doctor breathed at the same time, his eyes widening in realisation as he slowly turned back towards Solomon, eyeing him closely.

"Exactly," she sighed, "A little bit of their home to take with them to their new planet, believing that the Earth was about to be destroyed by the moon coming into alignment ".

"Where are they now?"

"None on board," Amy came over.

"Every single stasis pod is empty," the Hatter continued, anger and disgust filling her voice, "Doctor, all of them are empty and yet, not one single Silurian is anywhere to be found, meaning…"

The Doctor felt his stomach drop as he realised just what she was implying, why she sounded so disgusted and furious. She might not have all the facts, but she was clever enough to take an educated guess and come to the only other conclusion that she possibly could.

"Hatter, stay safe," he said softly, wanting to get Astra away from Solomon more than ever before, "And I swear, no matter what, I'll keep Astra safe…"

"I don't doubt it, sweetheart," she cut across him, her tone growing gentle.

He nodded to himself, swallowing hard, "I'll see you soon," he promised, closing his eyes briefly before he forced himself to end the call, turning back to Rory and Astra, handing the phone back out to him through the gate, "Be ready," he told him quietly, looking deadly serious as Rory took the phone back and nodded to him, before the Doctor turned back to Solomon.

"The pain in my legs is gone," Solomon said as he sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at his legs, "I can move them. Thank you, Doctor".

The Doctor simply stared at him, forcing his voice to remain calm as he asked, "What did you do to the Silurians?"

He looked up to him at that, "We ejected them," he said, not even attempting to deny it, "The robots woke them from cryosleep a handful at a time, and jettisoned them from the airlock…" the Doctor closed his eyes tightly, ducking his head, "We must have left a trail of dust and bone".

The Doctor opened his eyes, shaking his head in disgust, "Because you wanted the dinosaurs," he whispered, moving to collapse onto the top of a nearby stool, crossing his arms across his chest as he felt his disgust quickly turning into outright anger.

"Their ship crossed my path. I sent out a distress signal, they let me board, and when I saw the cargo…then things became more complex".

"Piracy and then genocide".

"Very emotive words, Doctor".

"Oh, I'm a very emotive man," the Doctor told him, anger slipping into his tone, "And my wife…oh, believe me, she's even _more_ emotive then me".

"The lizards wouldn't negotiate," Solomon said with a small, unconcerned shrug, "I made them a generous offer…"

He glared at him, "The creatures on board this ship are not objects to be sold or traded".

"I feel like you're judging me".

"You said Roxborne Peninsula, so why are you heading to Earth?" the Doctor asked, frowning at him, "You're on the wrong course…" he eyed Solomon for a moment as the other man looked away from him, his expression growing harder, when it suddenly clicked in the Doctor's head, "Oh…" he broke into a smug smile, "You don't know how. Ha! Brilliant," he laughed, truly loving this, this little bit of karma, "You couldn't change the pre-programmed course without instructions. The ship defaulted, returned home. Oh, dear…" he mocked slightly, smirking at him, "The Silurians outwitted you even after you'd massacred them, so now you're a prisoner on the ship you hijacked".

"Not now you're here," Solomon said quickly, looking back to him; completely certain, "You're going to help me go wherever I want to go, Doctor".

"Little bit of news, Solomon," he said sharply, any trace of mocking gone now, "You're being targeted by missiles. Get off this ship…" he advised him, rising, "While you still can," he turned and began to walk back towards the gate.

"You think I believe that?" he scoffed, watching him go with narrowed eyes, "You just want them for yourself. You won't profit from me, Doctor".

The Doctor stopped before the gate and glanced back over his shoulder to him, "Don't ever judge me by your standards," he said coldly, hitting a button beside the door and making the doors slide open, much to his relief to be escaping from that man's presences as he quickly moved through the door and down the short hallway, Rory standing a few steps down with Astra and Brian sitting leaning against the wall, "Well, don't just stand there, Rory!" he clapped his hands together , reaching to take Astra back, kissing her head before he turned to the robots, "Hey! He wants to see you," he lied, before quickly hurrying off, Astra giggling excitedly, delighted to be back with her father again.

Rory blinked slightly before shaking his head, quickly turning to Brian, "Dad, up!" he urged him, gesturing for him to stand before turning to follow after the Doctor, Brian struggling onto his feet to hurry along after them.

They ran back through the corridors of the ship and back into the main ship, trying to follow the same path that they had through the hallways back towards the engine room, when the Doctor came to a skidding halt as they rounded a corner and came across the Triceratops that they had ran across earlier. He broke into a grin, an idea popping into his head that would likely end up getting him in trouble with the Hatter as Astra squealed happily. He barely even hesitated before taking off towards the dinosaur, making sure that his hold on Astra was secure as he went.

"What are we doing?" Brian called after him, staring off after him in confusion, Rory's eyes widening in disbelief as he realised what the Doctor was planning to do.

"Just do exactly as I do!" the Doctor grinned without looking back, still running.

"Doctor, no!" Rory shouted, alarmed. He wasn't seriously going to do what he thought he was going to do with Astra in his arms, was he?

"Geronimo!" he cried, leaping up onto the pile of boxes and crates that were sitting right next to the Triceratops, using them to boost himself up onto the creature, balancing with one hand as he swung himself onto its back, Astra waving her arms around in excitement as he kept a tight hold on her with his other arm. Still grinning, he glanced back to the humans and waved his arm to them to join him.

Rory and Brian looked at each other, their mouths hanging open in disbelief, before they turned and tried to copy the Doctor's actions, climbing onto the back of the dinosaur behind the Doctor, Brian a little less gracefully then his son.

"Go, Tricy!" the Doctor ordered it, pointing ahead of them, inwardly thinking about Toy Story, "Run like the wind!"

The dinosaur didn't even move an inch, just releasing a loud roar before falling silent once more. Suddenly, a series of laser bolts came flying from behind them, just missing them as they flinched and ducked their heads, glancing back to see that the robots had finally caught up to them.

The Doctor desperately tried shielding Astra while also trying to get the dinosaur to move, needing to get his daughter as far away from the laser bolts as possible, "Quick!" he shouted back over his shoulder to Rory and Brian, frowning down at the back of the dinosaur's head, "How do you start a Triceratops?" he even tried hitting his hand against the creatures side to get it moving, only to wince as he found out just how hard it was, quickly giving his hand a little shake.

"There they are!" one of the robots called.

"I know!" the second robot replied, sounding as if it might have rolled its eyes, had it been a human, "I saw them before _you_ ".

The Doctor continued trying to get the dinosaur to move, making sure to keep his head still down low, almost touching the top of Astra's head as he tapped his hand against the top of Tricy's head, being sure not to hit to hard, not wishing to hurt his hand again, when Brian pulled a second golf ball out of his pocket, holding it up.

"Tricy!" he said loudly, making the Doctor pause, "Fetch!" he threw the ball off the down the hallway ahead of them, making the creature grunt and take off after it.

"Ha, ha!" the Doctor cheered, laughing in delight as he secured his hold on Astra as the dinosaur began gaining speed, Astra squealing excitedly, "Go, Tricy!" he let out a loud whoop as Rory and Brian cheered the creature on behind them, laser bolts still flying passed them as they went, "Come on, Tricy! Faster, baby!" up ahead of them the golf ball hit a wall and ricocheted off the corner, bouncing off down the next hallway, the dinosaur still in hot pursuit, "Whoa!" he laughed as they rounded the corner, continuing quickly off down the corridor.

"I'm riding a dinosaur on a spaceship!" Brian shouted in disbelief over the noise of the creature's feet pounding against the floor and Astra's excited squeals.

"I know!" Rory grinned, laughing.

"I only came round to fix your light!"

"Come on, Tricy!" the Doctor urged loudly, when his eyes widened as he noticed the golf ball heading directly towards a wall straight ahead of them with no chance of bouncing off a handy corner this time. He frantically looked down at the dinosaur, panic starting to flare inside his chest as it hit him that he had no way of stopping Tricy from crashing straight into the wall and Astra was in a extremely vulnerable position right now. If he didn't figure out a way to stop this dinosaur from hitting that wall, she was going to end up getting hurt if not worse, never mind himself or the humans behind him. Astra was his main concern, "Where are the brakes?" he cried; panic quickly being replaced by outright terror for his daughter's safety.

Rory and Brian seemed to realise the bad turn their little joyride had suddenly taken, letting out loud, panicked shouts as even Astra gave a fearful cry, sensing the Doctor's fear. The Doctor drew her closer to his chest, one hand cradling her neck as he mentally calculated just what position he would need to fall in to ensure that she would be safely cushioned, when the dinosaur came to a skidding stop just two meters away from the wall. The stop happened so fast that the Doctor acted completely on reflex as he felt himself toppling sideways with Rory and Brian, somehow managing to twist himself before he could crash onto the ground so that Astra landed safely cushioned against his chest without too much of a impact upon her fragile body, dust filling the air as he groaned slightly painfully from having taken the full force of the fall, knocking the wind from him. Rory and Brian were lying crumpled on the ground beside him, wincing painfully, rubbing at their heads, when the dinosaur trotted back over to them, dropping the golf ball out of its mouth in front of Rory, like a dog returning its ball.

The Doctor slowly sat upright and, ignoring his own discomfort as his back cracked loudly, quickly checked Astra over, the baby seeming to be more stunned than anything else, but he knew that it likely wouldn't last long, "You're okay," he breathed, pressing a kiss onto the top of her head, relief spreading through him, "You're okay. Everything is okay, my little star…" he lightly rocked her, trying to avoid her bursting into tears once the shock had worn off, glancing back to Rory and Brian as they slowly sat up, too, "Good," he smiled slightly, "That worked. Okay…" he lost his smile as he climbed onto his feet, looking around curiously, still bobbing Astra, "Er…where are we now? Ooh!" he hurried over to a computer screen he had just caught sight of within the rocks, hurrying over to it as words flashed across the screen, "Incoming message from Earth," he broke into a grin, hitting one of the buttons, "Hello, Earth, how's things?"

Static filled the screen briefly before clearing, revealing Indira with members of her crew moving around behind her in the background, "Doctor, the ship's coming through the atmosphere," she began, looking very serious, "I have to start the missile programme".

"No!" he said hurriedly, his eyes widening as Rory came to stand beside him, "No, no, no, don't do that. Everything's completely under control here. Turning around any moment…the Hatter's just doing that now," he lied, desperately just trying to buy them more time, "Need a bit of wiggle room on the timings…"

"I can't do that".

"You can!" he insisted, growing quite frantic now, "Of course you can! Tiny bit more time, Indira, please. This ship contains the most precious cargo…" and he wasn't just talking about the dinosaurs, either, the Hatter and his child was on board this ship, they were priceless to him.

"My only responsibility is the Earth's safety. I'm launching the missiles. Goodbye, Doctor".

"No, Indira!" he cried, but it was already too late, she had disconnected the video link, "Hey! Come back! Please!"

Sadly, she was long gone and now, the missiles were on their way.

….

The Hatter frowned in concentration as she worked at the computer, her fingers flying across the keyboard, trying to hack into the computer system so that she could try and speak to the Doctor, who had suddenly reappeared when she had tried for the sixth time to search the ship for life forms. She hated feeling like she was missing out on what was going on, like she was only working with half of the puzzle while he had the rest. She needed to know what was going on from his end, that everything was okay with him, Astra, Rory, and Brian. Sadly, the system seemed to be far harder then she could have imagined, or perhaps she was just a little bit out of practice when it came to hacking because this really should have taken her less than thirty seconds to hack. It was almost embarrassing, really. While she was busy working on the computer, Riddell was moving around the room, opening and closing cupboards, searching for something. Well, she thought he might be searching; he could very well just be snooping.

"Now, these are what we need," Riddell announced, busy peering into one of the cupboards that he had just opened, sounding quite pleased. The Time Lady didn't even look up, "Dinosaur protection," he straightened from the cupboard and turned back around, smiling smugly as he held up two rifles in both hands.

"Hey, put them back," Amy told him sternly, throwing the Hatter a quick glance, half-expecting the Hatter to scold him, but was still looking at the computer. She frowned back over at Riddell, "The Hatter doesn't like weapons".

The Hatter blinked at the sound of her name and pulled her eyes away from the screen, "Did someone say my name?" she caught sight of Riddell and began to frown, only to sigh slightly as she eyed the guns closely, "Ordinarily, I certainly wouldn't approve of weapons, but I suppose this would be fine".

Amy gave her a double take, staring at her in disbelief, "What?" she exclaimed.

She smiled faintly, glancing at her, "They're only stun guns, Amy," she informed her, shrugging, "I used to build weapons during the Time War, much to my disgust, but it does mean that I know the difference between a stun gun and a proper rifle".

Amy glanced back to Riddell, who gave her another smug smile and held out one of the guns and an anaesthetic magazine towards her. She smiled slightly, rolling her eyes at his smugness as she took the gun, slotting the magazine into it, "You're almost clever," she said to Riddell.

Riddell watched her fitting the magazine into place, "Enough to make a dinosaur take a nap," he looked back over to the Hatter, giving her a smirk, "Even you and the Doctor couldn't object to that".

The Hatter gave him a look, "Just this once, Riddell," she warned, pointing a stern finger at him, not wishing him to get any ideas.

Nefertiti eyed the Time Lady closely, "You are the Doctor's only Queen?" she asked, her eyes briefly flickering across to Amy, having noted the familiarity that the three had shared earlier.

"For the Doctor's sake, I certainly better be," the Hatter remarked lightly, before pausing as she glanced back to Amy, missing how disappointed Nefertiti looked at the news, "Ooh, that sounded a bit possessive, didn't it?"

"Just a little bit, yeah," Amy nodded, looking a little amused.

"How…human of me," she muttered, slightly surprised with herself. This regeneration did seem to be a little bit more prone to jealousy then her previous selves had been, which was quite odd. Time Lady's didn't usually get jealous about something as trivial as all of that, it really was quite human of her, not to mention a little embarrassing.

"And you, Amy…" Nefertiti turned her gaze onto Amy, her expression quite guarded, "If you are not the Doctor's Queen…" Amy and the Hatter both froze, exchanging a quick, startled look as the Time Lady struggled not to burst out laughing at how disgusted Amy looked by the thought, seemingly over her little crush, well and truly, apparently, "…then who's Queen are you?"

"I'm Rory's Queen," Amy said, before her eyes widened, "Wife! Wife…" she grimaced slightly embarrassedly, glancing at the Hatter, who looked quite amused, "I am his wife," she sighed, looking between both women, "Please don't tell him I said I was his Queen. I'll never hear the end of it," she paused, eyeing Nefertiti, raising her eyebrows. Unlike the Time Lady, she hadn't missed how disappointed Nefertiti had been hearing that the Doctor was taken, "Why are you so interested, anyway? I thought you had a husband?"

Her expression grew colder, "The male equivalent of a sleeping potion".

Amy and the Hatter exchanged a quick, amused look.

"You clearly need a man of action and excitement," Riddell spoke up, smirking at Nefertiti, "One with a very large weapon," he cocked his rifle without dropping his gaze from her before turning around, heading for the door.

Amy watched him go as the Hatter shook her head, smiling faintly, "So, human sleeping potion or walking innuendo," the red head commented, looking back to Nefertiti, "Take your pick".

The Hatter laughed as Amy and Nefertiti exchanged a smile, when a loud beeping sounded, making the Hatter spin back around to the computer, her eyes lighting up, "Ah, my decryption's finally finished," she cheered, dashing over to the screen, "Now we've got access to the security cameras of the ship. I had to translate it into Silurian, you see, trouble is that language's aren't really my area, so it took me quite some time," she flashed Amy a grin, reaching up to tap her temple, "Time Lady brain and a great deal of motivation".

She turned back to the screen where an image had appeared of the Doctor standing in the corridor of the ship, carrying Astra in his arms as he paced, seeming to be quite stressed. Rory and Brian were standing a short distance away from him, Rory seeming to be looking at a small screen built into the rocks along the side of the hallway. She hit a button and the beeping stopped.

" _That's very bad indeed_ ," the Doctor was saying over the speaker, having no idea that they were listening, " _Completely unhelpful_ ".

" _Doesn't this ship have any defence systems installed_?" Rory asked quickly, seeming to be quite worried, too.

The Hatter frowned deeply, "This really can't be good," she said quietly, "Not good at all. What could possibly have happened now?"

…

"Good thinking, Rory!" the Doctor shouted, grinning as he stopped pacing to run back over to him, suddenly kissing him before Rory even had a chance to move, just as quickly spinning away from him and back to the screen. Rory grimaced in disgust as Astra giggled at his expression, but the Doctor was already focusing on the screen, "Computer, show us weapons and defence systems," he ordered it, but the words 'No System Available' flashed across the screen, making him sigh, "Oh, well, that was a waste of time, wasn't it?" he gave Rory an accusing look, lightly slapping his cheek with his free hand, "Getting my hopes up like that," he turned back to the screen.

Rory frowned deeply, "What ship doesn't have weapons?"

"Ah, they're ancient species, Rory. Still full of hope".

"What about the control deck?" Brian called from just behind them, making them turn around to look back to him. He pointed an accusing finger at the Doctor, "You said we should go to the control deck next".

The Doctor sighed, shaking his head as he walked towards him, "It's too late," he told him grimly, lightly bobbing Astra, "It won't make any difference".

"We could at least try," Rory frowned at him, following after him.

"It won't work, Rory," he turned back him, "The missiles are locked on".

"So what?" he demanded, holding his arms out on either side of him, "We're just giving up? Is that what the Hatter's going to do, too?"

"I don't know," the Doctor sighed heavily again, deflating slightly as he looked down. No, he knew that the Hatter wouldn't give up, but he didn't know what they _could_ do to fix any of this, "I don't know".

Suddenly, a bright flash of light appeared a short distance away from them, drawing their attention as they squinted against the light. As the light faded, Solomon, standing between the robots, came into view, leaning on a metal crutch.

"You were telling the truth, Doctor," Solomon remarked as the Doctor eyed him carefully, "Earth has launched missiles. This vessel is too clumsy to outrun them, but I have my own ship".

"You won't get your precious cargo on board, though," the Doctor reminded him; feeling quite satisfied by that thought, "Just be you and your metal tantrum machines," he pointed back and forth between the two rusted robots.

"We do not have tantrums!" one of the robots huffed, not exactly helping their cause.

"Shut up!" Solomon snapped at it, before hobbling closer to the Doctor, leaning heavily against his crutch to even cross the short distance, "You're right, Doctor. I can't keep the dinosaurs and live myself," the Doctor smiled slightly, pleased that he seemed to be coming to reason, "But I had the IV system scan the entire ship, and it found something even more valuable…" the Doctor's smile vanished, tensing. If they had made one mistake and hadn't managed to completely wipe the Hatter or Astra from every database that they had been able to find, then the IV system could have picked up on it. Solomon gave him a chilling little smile, a knowing glint in his eyes, "Utterly unique," he continued, "I don't know where you found it, or how you got it here, but I want it".

"I don't know what you're talking about," the Doctor said firmly, inwardly feeling his hearts racing as he held Astra tighter in his arms. The missiles would be a relief to have to deal with if Solomon was speaking about either of his girls.

He didn't even blink, "Earth Queen Nefertiti of Egypt".

…

"No," the Hatter said at once as she, Amy, Nefertiti, and Riddell gathered around the computer screen, watching the whole scene between the older, clearly injured man and the Doctor in the middle of the hallway, "That won't be happening," she looked back to Nefertiti, reaching out to touch her arm reassuringly, "I won't allow anything to happen to you, Queenie".

She didn't know who this man was, but she could take an educated guess that he was the one responsible for what happened to the Siliaran's. That, in itself, made him a man that she wanted nothing to do with, let alone her child and husband around, but now he seemed to have also set his eyes on Nefertiti. She wasn't about to allow something happen to Nefertiti, no way in hell was that happening. She knew men like this man, men who only saw objects and tools, not people and that made them very dangerous. He wouldn't care about hurting Nefertiti, she would be nothing more than a trophy and trophies were only meant to be seen and admired.

" _A face stamped across history_ ," the man continued over the speaker, his expression looking positively hungry as he spoke about Nefertiti, " _Give her to me, and I'll let the rest of you live_ ".

"Not happening," the Hatter shook her head, not loosening her grip on Nefertiti's arm, as if she was afraid that she would suddenly be teleported away.

On the screen they watched as the Doctor glared at Solomon, leaning closer to him, " _No_ ".

"Yeah, you tell him, sweetheart," she nodded approvingly, earning a funny look from Amy, Riddell, and Nefertiti.

" _You think I won't punish those who get in my way_?" the man raised his eyebrows, his expression darkening, " _Whatever they're worth_?" he gave the Doctor a pointed look before tilting his head very slightly.

The Hatter frowned and watched nervously as one of the large, very battered looking robots that stood on either side of the man stepped forward, suddenly shooting a laser over towards a nearby triceratops, shooting it several more times as they could only watch on in horror, the Doctor trying to shield Astra's eyes from the sight as the dinosaur gave a loud cry of pain before collapsing sideways onto the ground. Astra's anguished cries joined the dinosaurs pained groans.

The Time Lady released a shuddering breath, grabbing the edge of the computer's keyboard until her knuckles turned white, "We have to do something," she hissed through gritted teeth, feeing herself starting to shake from fury and disgust, Astra's cries ringing in her ears, calling to her mother to hold her and comfort her in a way that only a mother could.

"Yes," Nefertiti agreed, lifting her chin, looking determined, "We must," she meet the Hatter's eyes as the Time Lady looked back to her.

The Hatter sighed heavily and looked away, swallowing hard. This man was going to continue to kill unless he got what he wanted, that was quite clear and she didn't imagine that it would be long before he turned his sights onto Rory or Brian. A fearful shiver ran up her spine at the thought of him doing something to Astra, but the thought of turning Nefertiti over wasn't acceptable either…but, sometimes, the only choice in a situation was bad, it was just picking the lesser of two evils and this was one of those times.

"I'll get the teleport working," she muttered, hating having to even think about what she was about to do, but she didn't see any other option right now, Astra's cries pushing her on as she began frantically typing.

….

The Doctor felt his hearts breaking as Astra's cries rang out throughout the room, staring at Tricy as its breathing grew heavier as it remained lying on its side. He slowly walked closer to the dinosaur and knelt down beside it, reaching out to gently stroke its snout. Astra clumsily reached out to try and touch the dinosaur, trying to bring it some comfort before it slowly died, its eyes slipping closed. He closed his eyes tightly, lowering his head until his chin was lightly resting on top of Astra's head as she began crying again, burying her face in his blazer, wanting her mother. He carefully climbed back onto his feet and glared at Solomon, furious that he could be so cold and cruel to kill such a beautiful, innocent creature like that without any ounce of compassion. It sickened him.

"You must be very proud," he said mockingly to the older man, completely disgusted by his actions.

"Bring her to me," Solomon ordered him, not affected in the slightest by anything that had just happened, "Or the robots will make their way through your corpses..." his eyes came to rest on Astra, a chilling smile crossing his face. The Doctor held Astra closer, trying to shield her from his eyes, "Starting with your daughter. Bring her now".

The Doctor gave him a dangerous, calculating look, "Do not threaten my daughter in front of me, Solomon," he warned him softly, not needing to raise his voice, "You have _no_ idea what I am capable of".

Suddenly, there was another bright flash of light, making them all turn to find the Hatter, Amy, Riddell, and Nefertiti standing behind them. The Hatter moved to the Doctor's side at once, taking Astra from his arms to cradle her against her chest as the baby instantly reached for her, pressing her lips against the top of Astra's head in a small kiss.

"Did I hear that correctly?" she lifted her head, settling her cold eyes on Solomon, "You actually threatened my child?" she tightened her hold on Astra as the Doctor placed a hand on her lower back, not taking her eyes off Solomon, her expression blank of any emotion. Just like the Doctor, she didn't raise her voice, she didn't need to, her voice was even more terrifying then if she had shouted, "Try it. I _dare_ you".

"Hatter," the Doctor breathed, staring at her. Had the situation been less serious and he not so angry, he likely would have kissed her in the sheer relief of seeing her again, unharmed and back beside him, but this was not the time to be doing anything like that. He forced himself to pull his gaze away from her, frowning as he noticed Nefertiti standing just behind the Time Lady with Riddell and Amy, both welding what appeared to be stun guns, "What are you doing?" he asked in a whisper, focusing back on the Hatter.

The Hatter sighed, ducking her head as Astra wrapped her hand around the Time Lady's necklace, settled slightly, but before the Hatter had a chance to speak, Nefertiti cut in, "I demanded to be brought here," she told the Doctor, stepping forward.

"Let's call it reluctant agreement," the Time Lady sighed, glancing back over to her, clearly not at all pleased by the idea.

The Doctor shook his head quickly, reaching out to grab Nefertiti's arm, stopping her from getting any closer to Solomon, "No, no, no, no, no way," he said quickly, not liking this in anyway, "Hatter, you can't be going along with this!" he looked back over to the Hatter in disbelief.

"Not by choice, Doctor," the Hatter frowned, throwing Solomon a dark, angry look, "But sometimes the only choices are bad and this is one of those times".

"It isn't your choice, Doctor," Nefertiti said firmly, glancing back to the Doctor before looking back over towards Solomon, her expression determined, "Nor is it the Hatter's. It's mine".

"Listen to me," the Doctor hissed urgently to her, "If you go with him, I can't guarantee your safety".

"You and the Hatter saved my life. I am in your debt".

"We don't do debts, Queenie," the Hatter shook her head, watching her with a look caught between concern and apprehension. She reached out with her free hand, touching Nefertiti's arm, "Please, don't ever feel as if you owe us anything. This choice must be your own, completely, just as you need to be aware of what risk you're putting yourself in," she paused, lowering her voice as she squeezed her arm tighter, "Please, think about this. We're pretty good at coming up with plans at a drop of a hat, I'm sure we can figure this out".

"There is no other choice," Nefertiti replied, still very determined, "I do this on my own," she shook both the Doctor and the Hatter's hands from her arms, striding forward, towards Solomon.

"No, Neffy!" the Doctor called urgently, trying to grab her arm again, but she managed to avoid him easily, "Neffy…" he turned around, narrowing his eyes as Nefertiti came to stand before Solomon.

"We'll fix this," the Hatter murmured, taking the Doctor's hand with her free one, swallowing hard as she looked back across to Nefertiti. If anything happened to her, she would never forgive herself for the role she played, "We have to".

"No!" Riddell called from behind them, making everyone look at him. He cocked his rifle and aimed it at Solomon, "Take her and I shoot you".

Nefertiti held her hand out to him, "Put your weapon down," she ordered him sternly, "Let me make my choice".

Riddell walked forward, his weapon still trained on Solomon, not seeming to be listening to her.

"Do it, boy," Solomon eyed him with a dark look, while just behind him, one of the robots prepared its weapon and turned towards Riddell. Slowly, Riddell lowered his gun with a reluctant sigh, "My bounty increases," he looked back to Nefertiti, smirking as he admired her, "And what an extraordinary bounty you are…" he reached out to touch her cheek.

She angrily shoved his hand away before he could touch her skin, "Never touch me," she snapped.

Solomon suddenly pushed her roughly against the wall and pressed his crutch against her throat, the unusually razer sharp edge trapping her in place as she gasped in shock, the Time Lords exchanging a hurried look, "I like my possessions to have sprite," he commented lightly, watching her with a sickeningly satisfied expression, "It means I can have fun breaking them," Nefertiti forcefully pushed the crutch away from her, glaring at him furiously as he leaned closer to her, "And I _will_ break you in with _immense_ pleasure," he glanced back to the Doctor and the Hatter, the Time Lords not bothering to hide their disgust and anger, "Thank you, Doctor. Computer, take us back to my ship".

There was another bright flash of light and Solomon was teleported away with Nefertiti and the robots, just as a loud alarm began blaring from the computer in the wall, drawing their attention.

"Hostile targeting in progress," the system announced, the word 'Warning' flashing across the screen in bright red letters, "Hostile targeting in progress. Hostile targeting in progress. Hostile targeting in progress…" it continued repeating.

The Doctor's eyes light up and he quickly looked back to the Hatter, who met his eyes with a nod, coming to the very same idea as him, "Bingo," he smiled.

"What is it?" Rory asked quickly, looking between the Time Lords, not liking how pleased the Doctor looked while the Hatter seemed to be more resigned, "Doctor? Hatter?" he frowned at them, growing nervous with how differently they both seemed to be feeling about whatever they had silently agreed upon.

The Hatter sighed and glanced at him briefly, but shook her head, "Computer," she called over the alarms, adjusting Astra more comfortably in her arms, "Please take us to the control deck".

Another blinding flash of light appeared around their entire group, when they blinked and suddenly found themselves teleported into a smaller, slightly cramped room that had two pilot's chairs facing each other towards the front of the room, covered in dust and spider webs with a set of controls between them, barely recognisable beneath the webs. A small screen was attached to the side of the chairs, seeming to be meant to be moved around before the front of the chairs once the pilot was sitting down.

"Okay," the Doctor grinned as he quickly looked around while the humans got their bearings, reluctantly letting go of the Hatter's hand to clap, "Control deck," he moved across to the control panel sitting between the seats and pulled the top off it, peering down into the hole inside.

Rory stepped closer to the Doctor, looking between the Time Lords as the Hatter slowly broke into a smile, "So, what's the plan?" he questioned.

"Just think about it, Rory," the Hatter told him, carefully avoiding brushing against any cobwebs.

The Doctor straightened from the hole, looking back across to him, "The missiles are locked onto us," he explained to him quickly, "We can't out-run them. We have to save the dinosaurs and get Nefertiti back from Solomon," he held out his hands, frowning at him, "Isn't it obvious?"

Rory gave them a blank look, "Ah, it's sort of the opposite of obvious…"

"I'd say that we have about seventeen minutes before those missiles hit us," the Hatter commented lightly, using a tone that made it sound as if she might have been discussing the weather, "So…" her smile widened, pointing her free hand at the Doctor, "We have seventeen minutes to turn this ship around and save the day".

The Doctor shot her grin and kissed her cheek, dropping another quick kiss on top of Astra's head before spinning back around to the hole, flashing his sonic screwdriver at the machinery within.

"You said it was too late," Rory frowned, nodding to the Doctor, "That there wasn't any time".

"Ah, yes," the Doctor called back up to them, not looking up from his work, "But I didn't have this plan and the Hatter then, did I?"

"I missed you too, sweetheart," the Hatter smiled at him brightly, reaching down to ruffle the top of his head as he continued using his sonic screwdriver within the hole, "Now, Riddell," she turned around to look over to where Riddell was standing near the door with Amy and Brian, "Do please be a dear and make sure that none of our large, scaly friends come calling".

Riddell gave her a smirk, "I was rather hoping you'd say that," he said, passing his rifle to Brian to hold as he shrugged off his coat.

"We're just stunning them, remember," the Time Lady said firmly, eyeing him with narrowed eyes, "We don't want any more innocent deaths today, thank you".

He took his rifle back, absently tossing Brian his coat, "Understood," he gave her a mock salute, which made her roll her eyes as he gave her another smile, heading for the door.

"Rory, Brian," the Doctor said, his voice slightly muffled as he continued to lean over the hole, "Get rid of the cobwebs so the Hatter can help me. She hates spiders".

The Hatter felt herself blushing as Rory raised his eyebrows at her, "Oh, shut up," she muttered embarrassedly, resisting against the urge to smack the back of the Doctor's head for telling everyone. Still, a part of her was grateful that she didn't have force herself to try and do it herself, "Amy," she cleared her throat as Rory and Brian began brushing the webs away from the equipment, making Amy step closer to her, "Would you mind holding Astra for me? I'm going to need both hands for this".

"Sure," Amy smiled, reaching out to take Astra as the Time Lady passed her over to her. Astra made a whinny noise and tried reaching for her mother, but Hatter sighed and forced herself to step back.

"I know you missed me, my darling," she said soothingly, feeling horribly guilty, "But mummy and daddy have some very important work they need to do right now."

She forced herself to turn away and focus on the nearest computer as Amy, trying to distract Astra, began pretending to steal Astra's nose, making the baby instantly start cooing happily. The Hatter quickly began typing, once again finding herself having to use the alien language to hack into the system, which slowed her down quite a bit as she worked, but after a few extra minutes more than it would have taken her normally, she managed to finally magnetise Solomon's ship, trapping him to the Silurian ship before he could get away. She smiled slightly to herself, imagining just how furious Solomon would be right now.

The Doctor stood from the hole and moved to kneel beside one of the pilot's chairs, fiddling with a set of controls on the armrest, "No, don't be like that," he grumbled suddenly, hitting his hand in frustration against the arm, climbing back onto his feet with an annoyed look, "Really unhelpful".

Amy looked across to him as Astra tugged at her hair again, "What's the matter?" she asked, wincing slightly as the baby gave her hair a sharp pull.

"Parallel pilot compartments, both configured," he informed her as the Hatter looked up from the computer, sighing, "Needs two operators of the same gene-chain. And that's why Solomon couldn't change the ship's course and neither can we," he shook his head grimly, glancing over to Astra, "If only Astra was a few years older, then maybe we could make it work…"

Brian raised his hand and the Hatter gasped in realisation, laughing slightly at how stupid she and the Doctor had been for not having noticed before now. They truly were getting slower in their old age, she was sure of it.

The Doctor gave her a confused look before glancing at Brian's raised hand, "What?"

"We can," Brian said with a shrug, pointing across to Rory, "Me and Rory," Rory frowned slightly, shaking his head slowly as his father looked back across to the Doctor, "We must be the same gene-thingy your said".

"Yes, you are," the Hatter grinned at Brian and Rory, suddenly looking excited as Rory blinked, staring at his father in shock as he seemed to realise that he was actually right, "Perfectly correct, in fact".

The Doctor pointed at Brian, his eyes lighting up, "Brian Pond, you are delicious".

"I'm not a Pond," Brian frowned slightly, giving him a funny look.

"Course you are," he said quickly, not really listening to him, "Sit down, both of you, licketty split," he nodded to the chairs as he moved to stand at the front of the room with the Time Lady, watching as Rory and Brian slowly sat down, looking at the chairs curiously, "The ship does all the engineering. The controls are straight forward, even a monkey could use them," he looked back to Amy and the Hatter, "Oh look, they're going to," he grinned at his own little joke, gesturing to Brian and Rory, but the humans simply looked unimpressed and the Hatter coughed very slightly, "Guys, come on," his smile faded, quite disappointed, "Comedy gold. Dear?" he looked hopefully to the brunet.

"I'll give you two points for comedic delivery," the Hatter said with a small shrug, pausing, "Though I will have to take the other eight away for the slightly offensiveness of the joke".

"Offensive?" he gave her a startled look, looking quickly back to the humans, Amy and Rory both nodding in agreement. He sighed, conceding defeat, "Oh, fine," he muttered, "Where's a Silurian audience when you need one".

The Time Lady cleared her throat, focusing back onto Brian and Rory, "Anyway, you two," she began, being sure to speak slowly, "Those two screens you have before you are in charge of velocity and trajectory," she sighed, closing her yes briefly, "When steering away from the Earth, please do be mindful of the moon. If you crash into it, there are going to be a number of _very_ upset races who call that place home".

"What?" Brian stared at her, wide eyed, not completely sure if she was being serious or not. He glanced at Rory, who simply shrugged, not sure himself.

"Primary controls are in the arms of the chairs," the Doctor pointed to the buttons running along the top of the armrests, "Principle's the same as any vehicle. Eight minutes forty five seconds," he reached into his pocket, pulling his sonic screwdriver back out, flashing it first at Rory's chair and then Brian's, activating them. He slipped the sonic back inside pocket, "Get us as far away as you can," he spun back around on his heel and moved to peer back down into the hole as the Hatter knelt down on the other side, "Right, phase two sorted. Now for phase one".

"Oh, no," Amy laughed slightly, walking over to the Time Lords, trying hard to ignore Astra's insistence on tugging at her hair, "Phase two comes _after_ phase one".

"Humans, you're so linear," he said with mock annoyance, pulling his sonic screwdriver back out of his pocket, he glancing up to the Hatter, opening his mouth…

"Some light, sweetheart?" the Hatter cut across him, smirking slyly as she whipped a small torch out of her jacket pocket, shinning the small beam of light down into the hole before he even needed to ask.

He flashed her a grin, "You know me so well," he commented happily, before reaching his arm down into the hole.

Amy watched them curiously as Astra, seeming to have lost interest in her hair, tried looking down into the hole, too, "What are you doing?" she asked, watching.

"Mixing my messages," he pulled a long piece of wire out of the hole, flinging it over his shoulder as he reached inside the hole once more, "How's the job?"

"We're about to be hit by missiles and you're asking me that?"

"Just trying to make conversation," the Hatter shrugged, shooting her a quick smile as Amy rolled her eyes, unable to help smiling, too, "Come on, tell us about how you're human life is going," she raised her eyebrows at her as the Doctor pulled out more wires, "So, the job?"

Amy looked away from her, toying with the edge of Astra's skirt, which was a baby version of the one the Hatter was wearing with matching bright pink tights, "I gave it up," she admitted after a moment.

"Amy," she frowned, concerned as the Doctor gave Amy a quick look, "You gave up the last job, and then the one before that…"

"Yeah, well, I can't settle. Every minute I'm listening out for that stupid TARDIS sound".

The Doctor's head snapped up again, giving her an offended look, "Right, so it's our fault, is it?" he huffed.

"I can't not wait for you both, even now," Amy stared between them, looking as if the mere suggestion of it was just too impossible to imagine. She eyed them suspiciously, "And they're getting longer, you know, the gaps between yours visits".

"Are they?" he said a little too casually, reaching back down into the hole as the Hatter frowned faintly.

"I think you're weaning us off you".

The Hatter gave her a startled look at that, "Oh, Amy," she sighed, seeing how worried Amy truly was. She reached out with her free hand to take Amy's hand that wasn't holding Astra, "I promise you, Amy, that's not what we're doing, not one bit. Never think for a moment that we would do that to yourand Rory," she gave her a gentle smile and Amy returned it, laughing when Astra practically tried to throw herself out of her arms to get to the Hatter, "Oh, alright, my darling," she shook her head, somehow managing to take Astra back and still keep the torch shinning into the hole for the Doctor, earning a happy coo from Astra.

"Amy, you and Rory…" the Doctor sighed, lifting his head from the hole to look across to Amy, drawing both women's attention off the baby to him, "You have lives, have each other," he frowned slightly, looking back into the hole, "I thought that's what we agreed".

"I know," Amy nodded, her smile falling slightly, "I… just worry there'll come a time when you two never turn up," the Time Lords both looked at her sadly, "That something will have happened to you and I'll still be waiting, never knowing".

"No, come on, Pond," he breathed, leaning over the top of the hole to place a kiss on top of her head, making her smile slightly as he pulled back, "You'll be there till the end of us".

"Or vice versa".

The Doctor and the Hatter both froze, even Astra seemed to frown very slightly, falling silent as they looked back to Amy, realising that, yes, that could very easily happen. They had first meet Amy when she had only been a little girl and now look at her, in her early thirties and married, just how much longer could this truly last between the four of them? A small beep sounded, breaking the silence.

"Done," the Doctor said softly as he looked down into the hole, slipping his sonic screwdriver back into his pocket, before reaching down into the hole again, pulling out a small piece of machinery from the very bottom of hole, sitting it carefully down onto the rim of the hole as he rose.

"Doctor, Hatter?" Riddell called, stepping back into the room, clutching his rifle, "This is a two man job," he told them, and Amy quickly stood and moved to grab the second rifle. He smiled slightly, amused as he caught sight of Amy with the rifle, "What are you doing?"

Amy gave him a look, "I'm easily worth two men," she replied, giving him a mocking little smile as the Hatter laughed, holding up her hand to high five her, which Amy proudly did, "You can help too, if you like," she looked Riddell up and down, moving towards the door with Riddell trailing behind her, looking quite impressed

"I should have known those two would get along," the Hatter commented, looking amused as she turned back to the Doctor, "Flirt One and Flirt Two".

"And are you Flirt Three, dear?" the Doctor asked innocently, raising his eyebrows at her.

"That, my dear, Doctor, is your title, I do believe".

He laughed before looking back to the piece of machinery he had extracted from the hole, eyeing the small, beeping crystal-like object sitting in the middle of the device, "Now, dear, I could use your little hands for this part," he glanced back up to her, his expression growing serious.

She pretended to sigh as he held out his arms to take Astra from her, freeing both of her arms for the task, "I thought you would never ask, sweetheart," she said lightly, slowly reaching forward, being mindful not to let any of the wires touch the crystal-like object, managing to use the very tips of her fingertips to pull the object towards the edge of the machinery, flicking it out into her hands without jostling anything that could lead to complications, "And here we go," she grinned, spinning around to hold the object up for the Doctor and Astra to see.

"Isn't mummy clever, Astra?" the Doctor cooed to the baby.

Amy stepped back into the doorway of the room, having overheard the Time Lords saying something, "Doctor, Hatter," she began, frowning slightly up to them, "What are you going to do…?"

The Hatter gave her a little wave, just as the Doctor wrapped his free arm around her waist and the three of them suddenly teleported away in a flash of light.

…

The Hatter and the Doctor, still holding Astra, appeared at the back of Solomon's ship, the smaller spaceship still magnetised to the Silurian Ark, Solomon standing before the controls, staring out through the window, still trying to get away, while Nefertiti stood just behind him.

"Hello!" the Doctor called brightly, and Solomon looked back to them with a startled gasp, "Having trouble leaving?" he gave him a mocking smile as the Hatter took Astra back, freeing him to grab two live cables that were plugged into the walls, pressing the cables into the robots chest units, short circuiting them.

The Hatter gave the Doctor a little smile as he clapped at his own handiwork, Astra waving her hands around in an attempt to try and clap along with him, not quite coordinated enough yet to do so, "So sorry for the inconvenience," she smirked at Solomon, who turned away from the control panel to glare at them, "But we couldn't possibly allow you to get away, so we thought we'd magnetise your ship".

"Release my ship," Solomon demanded, not taking his eyes off them as pulled a small laser device out of his pocket, holding it threateningly towards Nefertiti's throat, forcing her to tilt her head back from it, "Or I kill this precious little object".

"I'm sorry, did you just call her an _object_?" the Time Lady raised her eyebrows at him, her tone growing icy, "Do you have any idea who you're speaking about right now?"

Nefertiti glared at Solomon and, without lowering her chin, kicked his crutch out from under him, sending him crashing onto the floor with a pained grunt. She quickly grabbed the crutch before it could join him, pressing the sharp edge into his throat, not quite nicking his flesh as he chocked slightly against the sensation and tried pushing it away, "I am not your possession now, nor will I ever be," she snarled, looming over him, "Now, stay _there_ ".

The Doctor and the Hatter exchanged a grin, having quite enjoyed the little display of Nefertiti getting a little bit of revenge back, calmly strolling over to peer down at the man.

"Don't mess with Egyptian Queen's, Solomon," the Doctor remarked, glancing back up to Nefertiti with a small smile before looking back down to him, thinking that it probably went for all women, really, "I hope you've learnt that now," he stepped over the top of Solomon and across to the control panel, while the Hatter chose to move around Solomon to the panel.

Solomon tried to see what they were doing as the Time Lords began fiddling with the controls, not quite able to see with Nefertiti still looming over him, "What are you doing?" he managed to get out.

"Oh, just disabling this ship's signal and making this little spaceship appear to be the Silurian's," the Hatter replied with a careless shrug, typing one handed, "You see, it's really quite simple. We'll swap signal's over so that when we send your ship off emitting a signal from the Silurian's ship, the missiles will follow _you_ ," she turned back around to look down at him, flashing him a very bright smile and wink.

The Doctor spun around, too, wrapping his arm around the Time Lady's waist, "Hopefully, Siliurian ship safe," he began listing off, smiling, "Dinosaurs safe, everybody safe," he paused, checking his watch, "Bit tight on time, though. Shouldn't really be chatting," he glanced at the Hatter, who grimaced slightly and nodded, quite eager to be away, "Neffy, let's go," he turned and began to guide the Hatter to the back of the ship as Nefertiti removed the crutch from Solomon's throat.

"Oh, hang on a tick," the Hatter paused, turning back around as she reached into her jacket pocket, "Couldn't possibly forget this…" she pulled her hand out of her pocket, holding up the crystal-like object for them to all see, keeping it out of Astra's reach as she tried grabbing at it, "You see, missiles are quite literal things, completely controlled by a computer program, and _this_ …" she gave the object a little wiggle, "This is the thing that they lock onto," she placed the object onto the table in middle of the room.

The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket, holding it up for Solomon to see, "Now, one press of this and the ship's demagnetised".

"Doctor, whatever you want, I can get it for you," Solomon tried desperately, struggling to try and sit upright, "Whatever object you desire".

He looked at him coldly, "I already have everything I need, thanks," he said, glancing at the Hatter and Astra, his expression softening.

The Hatter gave him a small smile before looking back down to Solomon, her expression instantly growing completely blank of any emotion, "I'm curious," she eyed him, "When you murdered the Silurians for your own greed, did you even pause to listen to their pleading? Did you even feel _any_ remorse?" she watched him for a moment longer, shaking her head, "You didn't, did you? Not one bit".

"Look, Solomon," the Doctor said softly, nodding over to the computer screen, the screen displaying several blinking dots, singling the missiles nearing, "The missiles," he smiled very slightly as Solomon's eyes widened in terror, his head snapping around to see for himself, "See them shine? See how valuable they are," he and the Hatter turned, moving to join Nefertiti at the back of the ship where the teleport was waiting for them, "And they're all yours".

"You wouldn't leave me, Doctor!" Solomon called from behind them, just as the Doctor hit a button on the wall, closing the metal gate across the compartments doors, using his sonic to seal it shut.

The Hatter glared back at him through the gaps, "You threatened our daughter's life," she said as she clutched Astra tighter to her, her voice shaking with suppressed anger, "You have _no_ idea what we _will_ do".

"I did warn you," the Doctor reminded him quietly, "Enjoy your bounty".

And with that, they turned and walked onto the teleport pad as another, heavy metal door fell down over the gate, completely sealing the compartment closed as they teleported away, just before the missiles hit, destroying the ship and Solomon with it.

….

The Doctor and the Hatter lead the way back to where they had left the TARDIS parked in the middle of one of the ship's many corridors, quite pleased to no longer have the threat of the missiles hanging over their heads any longer now that they and Solomon had been dealt with. Astra seemed to have found the whole trip a little too much for her, however, and was now happily sleeping in the Hatter's arms as they walked, having excitedly spent a good fifteen minutes straight talking a hundred miles an hour about how she had actually gotten to ride a dinosaur, while the Hatter had simply smiled and tried to calm her down, trying to get her to take her bottle, which she was long overdue for her by now. Astra barely even finished drinking before she was fast asleep, snuggled against the Hatter's chest, sucking on her fist in her sleep.

"So, dinosaur drop off time," the Doctor said over his shoulder to Amy, Rory, and Brian, keeping his voice low, not wishing to wake Astra, not that he was overly concerned. Astra was quite good at sleeping through noise. He reached the TARDIS and inserted his key into the lock, pushing the door open…

"Actually, we think home for us," Rory remarked.

The Time Lords froze at his words, the Hatter just about to step inside the console room. Slowly, they looked at each other, exchanging a quick, sad looks.

"Yes," the Hatter nodded slowly, forcing herself to turn back around, giving them a strained smile. For a brief moment there, she had forgotten that Amy and Rory didn't travel with them like they used to, "Yes, of course," she glanced at the Doctor as he forced a smile, too, "You'll be wanting to go home…"

"Not forever," Amy told them quickly, just as Nefertiti and Riddell joined them behind Brian, "Just a couple of months".

"Right, yes," the Doctor cleared his throat, trying hard to act casual, "We're pretty busy anyway," he nodded to the Hatter, his eyes lingering on his daughter's sleeping face, snuggled up in a pink blanket in her arms, "We've got Astra to take care of, so…there's that…"

"Not to mention getting you lot all home," the Hatter added, still struggling to keep smiling.

"About that," Brian cut in, stepping around Amy and Rory, looking at the Time Lords eagerly, "Can I ask a favour?" the Doctor and the Hatter looked at him in mild surprise as he continued, "There's something I want to see".

The Hatter didn't need to pretend to smile this time, "For you, Brian, anything".

…

The Doctor and the Hatter smiled faintly as they watched Brian sitting in the TARDIS doorway, his legs dangling over the edge as the time machine hovered in space above the Earth, Brian happily admiring the view as he enjoyed a sandwich and a cup of tea. Amy and Rory stepped up behind him, peering out at the sight themselves, taking it in.

The Time Lady sighed a little sadly, leaning her head onto the Doctor's shoulder as he wrapped his arm around waist, drawing her close to his side, Astra tucked away, still sleeping, inside her crib. She could feel this chapter of their lives drawing closed, it was the same feeling she had felt several times before with her own companions. Someday soon, Amy and Rory would want to have a normal, human life on Earth, just as they were meant to and she and the Doctor would have to let them go. She couldn't help feeling like that time was very quickly approaching, but would they truly ever be ready to say goodbye to them? Quite honestly, she didn't think so.

When Amy and Rory left for good…it was going to break their hearts.

….

Amy walked back into the living room, holding a small pile of letters in her hands, while Rory was standing in the middle of the living room on a ladder, fiddling with the light fixture as he tried fitting a new bulb into the fixture.

" _More_ postcards from your dad," Amy commented as she flicked through the letters, amused as she looked up to Rory.

"Do you know what?" Rory frowned slightly, eyeing the light fixture with a small sigh, "I think it _is_ the fitting".

Amy rolled her eyes at him and slipped out of the room, heading into the kitchen to stick the latest postcard that Brian had sent them to the already littered fridge, this new one from Rio De Janeiro. Brian had been almost everywhere since he had got back from his little adventure with the Doctor and the Hatter, seeming to be flying all over the world, sending them postcards from everywhere he had been to, Italy, India, New York, Machu Picchu, just to name a few. He was becoming obsessed with travelling, barely staying still for longer than two weeks before he was off, planning his next trip away. It was starting to remind them quite a bit of two other people that they knew…

She began flicking through the rest of the letters as Rory joined her in the kitchen, looking over her shoulder, when she smiled as she came across another postcard, glancing back to Rory, this one not from Brian. It was a picture of an alien, jungle planet with dinosaurs roaming around freely from the Ark with the TARDIS sitting in the background beside an old, wooden sign with the words 'Siluria,' scrawled across it with a tiny, baby handprint besides the words.

 _ **Finally finished! I can't believe it took this long to finish, I'm afraid I got hooked into the Marvel Universe again and Christmas kind of just made me not want to do anything but watch TV. I hope you all had a good Christmas and New Years, I know that I certainly ate more sweets then I probably should have, (not that I'm complaining…) but that's Christmas for you :)**_

 _ **Next chapter, the Doctor is very determined to do something, we learn about some of the differences between human babies and Time Tot's, and the Hatter is very sun smart. Tell me what you thought, please review :)**_

 _ **Guest reviews:**_

 _ **Guest:**_ _ **I enjoyed parts of the Christmas special, I hated the way that the First Doctor was portrayed as being so sexist. That isn't his character at all, so as a fan of Classic Who and a woman myself, I was a little insulted by how they portrayed his character. I had so much hope and was so looking forward to it, only to be horribly disappointed. I also felt like they probably could have done without bringing Bill back like they did, it just…yeah, I didn't like that very much. I thought that Bill was off, happy and alive with her girlfriend, so finding out that she was actually dead like that was an unpleasant shock…or maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention to the previous episode.**_

 _ **Having said all of that, I did love the whole regeneration when he was in the TARDIS, the moment when that ring falls off her finger and hits the ground has to be my favourite moment from the whole episode, I thought it was beautiful, like when the Eleventh Doctor dropped his bowtie, signalling the end of an era. I was shocked that I didn't end up crying, I think because I was so distracted by how wrong the First Doctor was, but I really did like the regeneration scene before and after with Twelve and then Thirteen, so yes, I did very much enjoy the little snippet of Thirteen that we got and I'm very much looking forward to seeing her on our screens.**_

 _ **I will say that I suspected that the Captain must have some connection to a past companions because it just felt weird that this person who had no connection would play this role, so when it was revealed that he is connected to the Brigadier I was so excited and actually cheered, because I really, really love it when references like that are made, so yes, I was happy, but I also kind of feel like his character could have been better used then it was.**_

 _ **Over all, there are elements of it that I really liked, but also huge parts of it that just disappointed me and actually pulled me out of the story, which very rarely happens to me with Doctor Who. I had so much hope and I just feel like it was such a wasted episode that could have been so amazing if things had been tweaked, if the plot had more substance to it then it had. I mean, Rusty? Why was Rusty in it? I actually had to pause the episode and go 'Um, why is a Dalek in this episode at all? Did we seriously need this?' And then the whole Testimony thing annoyed me, I hated the design of it with the weird glass affect and as for being a villain, it just didn't work for me. Plus, Clara coming back, I don't know, something about that felt a little odd to me to, though I am very happy that the Doctor remembers her now. I just kind of feel like the episode was thrown together last minute and then hyped up to be something so much bigger than it actually was.**_

 _ **So, yeah, I think that if/when I do get to the episode, I'm going to have to alter a few things about the First Doctor because I truly hate what they did to his character and I'm really not sure if I could actually write him like that and feel happy. I feel like I've made this way too big, I apologise for anyone reading all of my ramblings right now and if you are interested in reading more (I'm shocked if you do), you can see some more of my views on my Tumblr from messages I've responded to in regards to the episode.**_

 _ **Doctor 13:**_ _ **Aww, thank you so much, I'm so happy you like the series and are enjoying the Hatter and Astra. Thanks for the review :)**_

 _ **Mo's Pizza:**_ _ **I'm so happy you like it and as for what regeneration the Hatter is currently on, this is her Eleventh regeneration. Now, as for the actress I would pick to portray the Hatter:**_

 _ **First Hatter, Alexandra Daddario as young Hatter/Ariana but Maggie Smith towards the end of her body.**_

 _ **Second Hatter, Cara Delevingne, but with glasses.**_

 _ **Third Hatter, Ana Ularu. I saw her in Emerald City and instantly thought that she looked just like the Third Hatter, only she has blue eyes instead of hazel.**_

 _ **Fourth Hatter, Julianne Hough.**_

 _ **Fifth Hatter, Emme Stone with brown hair.**_

 _ **Sixth Hatter, Ebba Zngmark, but I'm currently looking for an actual red headed actress who would fit, since I quite like to show GIFs on my Tumblr.**_

 _ **Seventh Hatter, possibly Lotte Verbeek. I'm still considering it, but she would be a pretty good fit, only I imagine her to have brown eyes.**_

 _ **Eighth Hatter, Victoria Justice.**_

 _ **Ninth Hatter, Holland Roden, only with slightly less wide lips.**_

 _ **Tenth Hatter, Laura Vandervoort.**_

 _ **And for the Eleventh Hatter, a fellow Australian, Phoebe Tonkin.**_

 _ **I'm now leaning towards using actual actresses for OC's rather than models, even if sometimes a model's face might fit better. I hope that helped, thanks for the review :)**_


	6. Chapter 6 A Town Called Mercy, Part 1

_**A Town Called Mercy, Part 1**_

The Doctor and the Hatter stood side by side in the middle of a dusty dirt road in the desert, Astra in her pram that the Time Lady was pushing, wearing a yellow sunhat and a dress, while her mother had traded her usual hat in for a floppy, bright pink one. The Time Lords were looking off down the road to where they could see an old, western American town ahead of them, looking like something taken directly out of one of those cowboy films. The town itself didn't seem to be overly welcoming, not at all, in fact, with several signs placed along the side of the road, warning them to 'Keep Out' and a boarder running around the edge of the town, blocking the road, made from rocks and large pieces of wood.

"'Mercy,'" the Doctor read aloud, looking up at the large wooden sign that was hanging above the road from a wooden frame, a large cow skull positioned above it, "Eighty one residents".

"Looks like that's a recent correction," the Hatter remarked, looking at where the sign had originally said eighty residents, only to have been crossed out with white paint. Astra babbled something eagerly, her speech slowly starting to sound a bit more like actual attempts to sound out letters, rather than complete nonsense. The Time Lady gave her a small smile, reaching into her pram to lightly touch her cheek, "Maybe you will meet a new little friend you can play with, my darling. It would be nice for you to be able to play with someone more your age".

Amy and Rory where standing just off to the side of the road, frowning slightly as they eyed the curious boarder running around the town.

"Look at this," Amy pointed at the rocks and pieces of wood, "It's a load of stones and lumps of wood," she looked back across to the Time Lords as the Doctor reached into his inner blazer pocket, pulling his sonic screwdriver out to run it along the border, scanning it, "What is it?"

He straightened and checked the results, looking back up to them with a small smile, "A load of stones and lumps of wood," he replied, making Amy roll her eyes at him. He slipped the sonic back inside his pocket and stepped over the line, spinning back around on his heel to help the Hatter get the pram over the line without jostling Astra to much inside, though they still earned an annoyed huff from the baby, despite their efforts.

"Er, the sign _does_ say 'Keep Out,'" Rory reminded them, pointing at the wooden sign stuck to the frame.

"And since when have we _ever_ listened to warning signs?" the Hatter looked back over her shoulder to him and Amy on the other side of the boarder, giving them an amused look. She shrugged, not looking concerned, "Personally, I've always considered warning signs to be merely helpful suggestions…or unhelpful, depending on the situation".

"Like 'Dry Clean Only,'" the Doctor added, and the Hatter clicked her fingers and pointed at him in agreement.

"Well said, sweetheart," she nodded, making him smile widely and wrap his arm around her waist before they set off down the road towards the town, pushing the pram ahead of herself, "Come along, you two!" she called back over her shoulder to the humans, "Don't want to get that English skin sunburnt. I told you wear a hat!"

"You tell everyone to wear a hat," Rory muttered, shaking his head as he and Amy stepped over the boarder, quickly catching up to them.

"I heard that!" she sighed, shaking her head, glancing at the Doctor, "Why doesn't anyone ever listen to me when it comes to hats?"

"I listen to you, dear," the Doctor said with a slightly offended expression, pointing to his chest. She smiled and paused briefly to kiss his cheek, having to lift the edge of her hat up to do so without accidently poking his eye. He brightened suddenly as a thought occurred to him, looking like an excited six year old, "Ooh, I know! What if I find a cowboy hat?"

She grinned broadly, her eyes lighting up in delight. She always did love it whenever he wore a hat, she had been so thrilled to find out how much this regeneration loved hats, almost as much as she did, "Oh, Doctor, that would be wonderful!" she cheered, only just resisting against the urge to hug him tightly in her own excitement with the prospect.

He happily straightened his bowtie, determined to find himself a hat just to see the Hatter's eyes light up again like that and that little dimple to form in her cheek when she smiled so broadly. If it was the last thing he ever did, he would find that hat, he didn't care if he had to steal… _borrow_ one, he'd do it to make her smile at him. Behind the couple, Amy and Rory exchanged a look caught between amusement and exasperation as they shook their heads. They really were perfect for each other, almost sickeningly so at times.

The Time Lords set off down the road once more, the humans following close behind them, but as they entered the main street of the town and began casually strolling passed wooden, weathered shops and houses, they couldn't help noticing just how empty and silent the whole place was. There was hardly anyone out on the street and as they began to look around, they could see the locals watching them pass from their windows and within their doorways, not one of them making any move to greet them, all keeping their distance, eyeing them. The Hatter frowned as she even noticed a woman wearing a late Victorian dress clutching her young daughter protectively as they passed them, keeping the girl back from them.

"Well, I suppose we ought to have expected a less then warm welcome," the Hatter murmured to the Doctor, tightening her own grasp on the handle of Astra's pram, feeling quite nervous with all these wary eyes watching them.

"I don't think they mean any harm…" the Doctor whispered, though even he looked a little worried. Frightened or suspicious humans were so dangerous, and with Astra with them, they needed to be mindful of that all the more.

They continued walking down the street, when one of the lamppost that lined the street suddenly sparked, catching their attention. The Time Lords blinked and exchanged a quick, puzzled look as they neared it carefully, eyeing it.

"That's not right," he frowned, pointing up to it before reaching into his pocket for his sonic screwdriver, aiming it at the light, scanning it.

"Yes," the Hatter nodded in agreement, giving the lamppost a thoughtful look, "Very odd".

Rory glanced at them, his arms cross across his chest, "It's a street lamp," he said, not seeing why they were so interested in it.

"Not just a street lamp, Rory," the Time Lady shook her head, still looking at the lamp with a frown, "It's electric and…" she paused to stick her tongue out briefly, tasting the air, "1870, which means that that light shouldn't even be invented for another ten years".

He shrugged, "It's only a few years out".

"That's what you said when you left your phone charger in Henry the VIII's en-suit," the Doctor remarked, giving him a pointed, slightly annoyed look.

Rory winced slightly and avoided looking at either Time Lord as they exchanged a quick look, Astra grumbling inside her pram about missing out of going on that little adventure. It had meant to be a simple trip to Tudor England during the time of King Henry the VIII, the Time Lords trying to time the trip around the same time as Henry's coronation with the hope that he would be away, touring the country, but they had got their dates a little mixed up and ended up landing just after Anne Boyleyn had given birth to the future Queen Elizabeth the I, certainly not the son that Henry had been so desperately after. If finding themselves in the middle of the King's court during that very tense time hadn't been bad enough, while the Doctor and the Hatter had been trying to give Amy and Rory a tour of the castle, Rory just had to go and accidently leave his phone charger behind while they had been snooping around the King's bedroom. The Hatter had lectured Rory for a good ten minutes about leaving modern day technology behind and how dangerous that could be, even more upset then usually given the fact that she had been forced to distract the King by flirting with him so that Rory could get his charger back. The Doctor had blamed Rory so much for the little incident that he gave him the silent treatment until they had taken the humans home.

"Doctor, Hatter, um…" Amy began, looking around slightly uncomfortably.

The Doctor smiled, ignoring her, "Anachronistic electricity," he said happily, glancing at the Hatter, "Keep-Out signs, aggressive stares," his smile widened, lightly nudging her side, "Has someone been peeking at my Christmas list?" he reached into his blazer pocket and plucked a small toothpick out of it, sticking it in his mouth, trying to look like a cowboy out of the movies.

The Hatter laughed, leaning in to kiss his cheek, "You're adorable, sweetheart".

He grinned, quite proudly, when he caught sight of a building just up ahead of them. He met the brunet's eyes before making a B-line for the door.

"Doctor!" Amy hissed after them, "Hatter!" she sighed in exasperation as the Time Lords completely ignored her, heading for what seemed to be a saloon. She exchanged a look with Rory as they moved to follow them.

The cheerful sound of piano music being played drifted out through the batwing doors as they neared them, the Doctor pausing to help the Hatter get the pram up the small veranda step, the sound of people talking and glasses clinking together reaching them as the Doctor pushed the doors open, letting the Hatter push the pram into the room first before stepping over the threshold himself, Amy and Rory right behind them. The moment they stepped inside, however, everyone seemed to stop what they were doing to stare at them, all of the chatter and music dying instantly. The Doctor didn't seem to notice anything as he swaggered over to the bar where a woman was standing behind, in the middle of pouring another drink. He slapped his palm down on the bar, leaning against it.

"Tea," he said to the woman, trying and failing to put on a deep, American accent. The Hatter raised her eyebrows, struggling not to giggle as she picked up Astra from the pram and took a seat in one of the barstools, sitting the baby on her lap with Astra's back resting against her chest, "But the strong stuff," he continued, trying hard to not look at the Hatter, knowing that he'd burst out laughing if he did, "Leave the bag in," he tried to flip the toothpick in his mouth, only to get it caught behind his front teeth.

The Hatter watched him, shaking her head slowly at his antics, while Astra giggled, "Ooh, take it easy there, sweetheart," she warned him, mock concerned as he tried dislodging the toothpick.

"What're you doing here, son?" the woman behind the bar asked the Doctor, looking at him strangely.

The Doctor pulled the toothpick out of his mouth, "Son?" he repeated, finally dropping his terrible American accent. He looked highly amused as he exchanged a look with the Hatter, both knowing that they were probably older then everyone inside the room, put together and then some, more than likely, "You can stay," he turned back to the woman, pointing at her.

Behind them, sitting at one of the small tables, an African American man in a black suit rose from his chair, grasping his lapels with a small, brown book held in one hand, "Sir," he said, making them all turn to look at him, "Might I enquire who you is?"

"Of course," the Doctor nodded; giving him a bright smile, "This is my wife, the Hatter…" he made an overly dramatic sweeping gesture towards the Hatter, who lightly tapped the brim of her hat with a friendly smile towards the locals, "And I'm the Doctor," he went on, turning to point to Amy and Rory, "And this is…" he paused as all of the men sitting suddenly stood, scrapping their chairs back against the wooden floor, the air suddenly growing tense, "No need to stand," he shook his head, still smiling as the Hatter slowly rose from her stool, looking nervously at the large group of men all staring at them. The Doctor still seemed to be completely oblivious, glancing at Amy and Rory, "You see that? Manners".

"I have a bad feeling about this…" the Hatter muttered to herself, holding Astra protectively on her hip, really not liking just how tense the atmospheres seemed to have grown, nor the way that all of these men seemed to be twitching their fingers towards the holsters strapped to their sides. This was turning into a very serious situation, very quickly.

An older man in a black suit and top hat suddenly came bustling over to them, passing the Hatter to get up behind the Doctor, holding a measuring tape across his shoulders.

"Oh, thank you," the Doctor caught sight of him out of the corner of his eye, turning around to face him. He gave him a polite smile as the man slowly lowered the measuring tape, "But I don't need a new suit".

"I'm the undertaker, sir," the man informed him, his face very grave.

The Hatter closed her eyes tightly as the Doctor gave the man a startled look, "Of course you are," she sighed, shaking her head as she looked back to the Doctor with a very pointed look, "Okay, I think we ought to be going now, sweetheart…" she grabbed his hand with her free one, not even wanting to know why the undertaker would be wanting to measure her husband up. There were just some questions in the Universe that she really didn't want to know the answer to, this one she much preferred to avoid all together.

"I've got a question," a young man, barely seeming to be out of his teens, called. He looped his thumbs in his belt, his eyes fixed on the Doctor as they stopped, about to head for the door, "Is you an alien?"

"Well, er…" the Doctor blinked slowly, looking a little taken aback as he glanced at the Hatter. The Time Lady frowned, giving the young man a curious look, "Bit personal," he tried to shrug it off, looking back around to the humans, "It's all relative, isn't it? I mean, the Hatter and I think _you're_ the aliens, but in this context…" he smiled, nodding thoughtfully, "Yes, yes, I suppose I am…"

The words had barely left his mouth before every single man within the room suddenly rushed at him, shouting and talking loudly as the Hatter, Amy, and Rory found themselves being pushed away from the Doctor as he was surrounded, suddenly lifted up off the ground and carried outside with the angry mob as he could only open and close his mouth, unable to do anything to stop them.

"Um, guys!" he called, just as he was carried out the door, trying to look back over his shoulder to them with wide eyes, very relieved to see that the Hatter and Astra hadn't been trampled.

The Hatter groaned loudly as Astra looked at her with a worried frown crossing her small face, "I said I had a bad feeling," she said tiredly, throwing Amy and Rory a quick look as they seemed quite stunned, "Come on, we'd better make sure he doesn't end up almost burnt for witchcraft or something…again".

She didn't wait for Amy and Rory to respond as she took off after the mob, the doors still swinging as she dashed out onto the veranda and after the mob still carrying the Doctor above them, seeming to be heading off down the main street, towards the boarder of the town. Astra was squirming in the Hatter's arms as she tried to run without jostling her to badly, just wanting to get to her father to make sure that he was okay. Astra might not have had very much experience dealing with large groups of humans like this before, but she could sense how worried the Hatter was and that was enough to make her quite concerned, too.

As they caught up to the group, several of the men tried to prevent them from going to the Doctor's aid, managing to grab Amy and Rory, trying to restrain them as they struggled and fought. Two of the men moved towards the Hatter, though they seemed to be a little less inclined to restrain her with Astra in her arms, but that didn't stop them from doing everything else that they could to try and block her attempts to get closer to where the Doctor was.

"Let go of him!" the Hatter demanded, glaring at one of the men as he jumped into her path with his hands raised in what she supposed was meant to be a calming gesture, resisting against the urge to kick his shin, barely. She tried to move around him, only for the second man to jump into her path after only a few steps forward, "He's done nothing wrong!"

"Hatter, it's okay!" the Doctor called back over to her trying to look over the heads of the mob to the Hatter, Amy, and Rory, seeing the Time Lady desperately trying to get to him while struggling to keep Astra in her arms, the baby not any more happy then her mother, apparently. He tried to give her a smile, though he wasn't completely sure if they could see it, "I'm handling it!"

"This isn't what I would call 'handling it,' Doctor!" she rolled her eyes, knowing that he was just trying to reassure her. Sadly, it wasn't working and the temptation to hit the next person who jumped into her path, even with Astra in her arms, was getting harder to ignore.

"Doctor!" Amy shouted, trying to throw off the hands of the two men holding her back, "Put him down!"

"Don't think we won't kill you!" the woman from the bar threatened the Doctor, earning a dark look from the Hatter.

"This is completely absurd!" the Hatter shook her head, unable to believe just how quickly things had changed, even for them this must surely be a record, "He's done nothing wrong, let him go!"

"Leave him alone!" Rory tried, struggling against the two men holding both of his arms.

"Doctor!" the Time Lady cried, trying to hold Astra tighter to prevent her from squirming herself completely out of her mother's arms.

"It's alright, dear!" the Doctor called back to her, giving her a reassuring look, even trying to give her a thumbs up. The more worked up the Hatter got, the more distressed Astra would grow, and right now they all needed to try and stay calm if they had any hope of getting everyone else to calm down, too, "Everything is completely under control!"

The Hatter rolled her eyes again, privately thinking that this was so far from being under control right now that it wasn't funny, but she stopped herself before she could say anything. Her head was still spinning from how quickly the locals had turned on the Doctor; it didn't make any sense, why would they hate him so much? Was it something they had done in the future? If that was the case, then why hadn't the locals turned on her like they had with him? It simply didn't make any sense to her.

"Guys," the Doctor tried to speak to the men still carrying him, needing to try and reason with them, very quickly nearing the boarder surrounding the town, "Guys. Guys! Oh, dear…" he sighed, his eyes widening as he realised what was about to happen, just before the men carrying him literally tossed him across the line, sending him cashing into the dust a good few meters away with a loud, "Whoa!" he quickly climbed back onto his feet, covered in dust as he groaned painfully, "Argh," he leaned back slightly and his back cracked, "Ow".

"Sweetheart?" the Hatter asked worriedly from where she stood on the other side of the line, looking over the top of the heads of the men who had been carrying him, now standing along the line, blocking it. She frowned at the back of their heads, trying to get a better look of her husband as Astra made a concerned whine, trying to see, too, "Are you okay?"

"Just a little dusty," he replied, wincing slightly as something else in his back crunched loudly. He turned back around, only for every single man to suddenly whip out their guns and aim them at him, making him quickly hold up his hands in surrender, startled.

"Oh, you must be kidding me," the Time Lady sighed, throwing the guns a dark look, "Would someone kindly explain what…" she trailed off, blinking slowly as she caught sight of something in the distance behind the Doctor.

It was a man, from what she could see, quite tall and broad, wearing a long black coat and carrying what looked like a very large gun. He had a black Stetson hat on and as the Hatter tried to squint her eyes to get a closer look, she thought she might have caught the glint of metal on the side of his face, as if he might have a robotic eye or something. Suddenly, as she watched, he seemed to disappear again before reappearing a moment later, slightly closer than before, like he was being teleported closer every few steps that he took towards them. The Hatter looked quickly back to the Doctor, desperately just wanting to grab him and pull him back over the line, back to safety, but there was no way that she could do that with Astra in her arms and all of these guns surrounding them. She simply couldn't risk her daughter's safety, no matter how much she wanted to go to the Doctor's side, and she knew that the Doctor would completely agree.

"He's coming," the African American man breathed, almost fearfully, watching the figure approaching in the distance, "Oh God, he's coming".

"Preacher…" the young man said, apparently speaking to the man, not taking his eyes off the figure, his hands shaking very faintly as they held his gun on the Doctor, "Say something".

He grasped the small book in both of his hands, which the Hatter now realised was actually the Bible, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name…"

The Doctor met the Hatter's eyes, swallowing nervously at the anxious expression on her face and the frightened look on Astra's as she buried her face into her mother's shoulder. Slowly, he began to turn back around on the spot to see the figure disappearing and reappearing again. His eyes widened at the sight, suddenly realising just _why_ the Time Lady and Astra seemed to be so worried as he whirled back around, trying to move back towards the line, only to have the guns aimed at him again, stopping him in his tracks and forcing him to hold his hands up again.

"…thy kingdom come," the preacher continued, "Thy will be done…"

A gunshot went off from behind the crowd, making everyone jump and look back to see a man with a large moustache slipping his gun back into his holster, frowning deeply as he strolled forward, everyone seeming to just stand back and let him pass. Clearly, he was in man who commanded quite a bit of respect from the locals, the Hatter would have bet her hat that he was the Marshal. He just had that air about him.

"You, bowtie," he said to the Doctor, who gave him a surprised look and pointed to his chest, "Get back across that line," he stepped up to the front of the line and pulled the lapel of his coat back, revealing a golden, six point star badge pinned to his waistcoat with the words 'Marshal' engraved across the metal. The Hatter very nearly smirked, but the fact that the Doctor was still in danger held her back. He gave the Doctor a pointed look, " _Now_ ".

The Doctor eagerly jumped over the stones and wood, moving straight towards the Hatter, Astra grabbing at him the second he came within reach, crying out for him. He took her from the Hatter, hugging her tightly as he dropped a kiss on top of her sunhat, before the Hatter threw her arms around him, very, very relieved to have him back within touching distance of her. Over his shoulder as he wrapped one arm around her waist, she watched as the figure dressed in black disappeared one final time, teleporting away.

"See?" the Doctor whispered in her ear, closing his eyes as he allowed himself to enjoy having both of his girls in his arms, "I told you I had it handled, dear".

The Hatter laughed faintly and pulled back, shaking her head at him, "We really need to work on your definition of 'handled,'" she remarked fondly, linking her arm with his free one as Astra snuggled into his blazer, just as pleased to have her father back, safe and sound, as her mother.

"Isaac," the young man turned to the marshal, "He said he was a doctor…" he pointed back over to the Doctor, looking quite worried, "An _alien_ doctor".

"That a reason to hand him to his death?" Isaac frowned.

"But, Isaac, it could be him!"

"You know it ain't," he said simply, looking at the Doctor for a moment longer before nodding to the Time Lady, "Ma'am," the Hatter smiled, inclining her head gratefully as he turned and began walking back towards town, giving Amy another little nod as he passed her, "Ma'am".

The Doctor looked around at all the men and grinned as they slowly moved back from him, eyeing him mistrustfully, but none of them seemed to be about to try chucking him over the boarder again. He looked back to the Hatter as she shook her head, trying to lightly brush some of the dust on his back off, knowing perfectly well that she and Astra were likely going to be covered in it from hugging him, not that she cared. Just as long as her and Astra's hat's were untouched, she could care less about the rest of their clothing.

"Shall we, dear?" the Doctor nodded towards the retreating back of Isaac, raising his eyebrows at her.

"We shall, sweetheart," she nodded, pressing a little kiss to his cheek and linking her arm with his once more, before they set off after Isaac and back into town, Amy and Rory hurrying to catch up to them.

"Just letting him go like that?" one of the locals grumbled as they passed, everyone watching them go with deep frowns and even outright glares of disapproval, "Be seeing you, boy".

The Hatter resisted against giving them a cheerful little wave, knowing perfectly well that it would likely only make things worse, but it was still very tempting. She still couldn't believe what they had almost done to the Doctor, but now that they seemed to be passed the threat of him being tossed out of town again, it was time to find out why and just who this 'alien doctor' was that they seemed convinced the Doctor was…which, quite possibly, was actually him, but she didn't believe so. Isaac seemed to know perfectly well who it was, so that cleared up the mystery of whether or not it was the Doctor in the future…or, at least she hoped it did. She couldn't sense any other version of him around, not that that was a foolproof way of being sure, but she would have expected to have sensed _something_.

The Time Lords followed Isaac all the way back into town as Astra clutched to the front of the Doctor's shirt as if she planned to let him go, being oddly quiet with one ear pressed against his right heart, listening to it beating, seeming to take comfort in it. The Time Lady glanced at her and smiled softly, shaking her head as they arrived at a brick building in the middle of the town, seemingly the Marshal's Office. They followed Isaac inside to find him already moving toward his desk, which was directly facing two jail cells on the opposite wall, one with a man curled up inside it with a blanket mostly obscuring him from view, just the top of his hat visible.

"What was that outside?" the Doctor asked him, frowning as he nodded his head back towards the door.

"The Gunslinger," Isaac explained, taking a seat on the corner of his desk, "Showed up three weeks back. We've been prisoners ever since," he sighed, and the Doctor and the Hatter exchanged a quick look, "See that boarder line stretching round the town? Woke up one morning, there it was. Nothing gets passed it, in or out," he shook his head, "No supply wagons, no reinforcements. Pretty soon the whole town's going to starve to death".

"But…you let _us_ in," Rory frowned, his arms crossed over his chest.

"You ain't carrying any food. Just five more mouths to feed. We'll all die even sooner now".

"Well, that's a cheery thought," the Hatter remarked grimly, looking at Isaac thoughtfully, "Right, so if no one can get _in_ , then surely that must mean that no one can get _out_ , but you must have tried? What happened?"

Isaac leaned over to grab a Stetson from off a chair by his desk, tossing it over to them. The Time Lady easily caught it, since the Doctor was down a hand with Astra, holding it between them for them to see. She sighed heavily as she noticed the perfect bullet hole that went through the top of the hat, just missing causing any serious damage to the owner.

"Now _this_ is just uncalled for," the Time Lady huffed, not at all pleased to see such a lovely hat ruined by a bullet hole. She was certainly going to have something to say about this to the Gunslinger, no one caused harm to a hat around her and if he even thought about doing anything to hers, she would make sure he regretted it…somehow.

The Doctor gave her a small, calming smile before turning back to the hat, trying hard not to smile for fear of her scolding him. She always did take hats so very seriously, "Ah, well…" he eyed the hole as Astra lifted her face from his chest to see, too, "He wasn't a very good shot, then".

"He was good enough," she muttered, giving the hole a dark look.

"He was aiming for the hat," Isaac remarked, giving the Time Lady a funny look.

The Doctor's head snapped up, looking startled, "He shoots people's hats?" he quickly glanced at the Hatter and then down to Astra, starting to really get panicked that they had ended up in quite possibly the worst place that they could have, given that someone seemed to have a great dislike for hats and people who wear them. That put both the Hatter and Astra in danger, if that was the case.

Amy rolled her eyes slightly, seeming how worried the Doctor was steadily growing, "I think it was a warning shot," she told him, trying to get him to calm down.

"Ah!" he pointed to Isaac, "No, yes," he nodded, "I see. Hmm…" he frowned, however, glancing back to the Hatter, his expression growing concerned again, "But all the same, maybe you and Astra's shouldn't wear your hats. Just in case".

"Don't be absurd, Doctor," the Hatter gave him a look, not at all pleased by suggestion, even if she did know that he was just acting in concern for her and Astra, "A Hatter without a hat isn't much of a Hatter," she said proudly, reaching up to happily pat the top of her sunhat before looking at Astra, her smile softening at the baby give her a wide, toothless grin in return, dribbling slightly down her chin as she reached out towards her mother. The Time Lady took her hand as she continued, "And besides, a Time Tot's skin is almost as vulnerable to UV rays as a human, Astra's pale skin would bake in the sun out there without a hat and sunscreen on".

He sighed, realising that she did have a point about Astra, while he and the Hatter's skin might be tougher than that of a human and quite resistant against sunburn, Astra's skin wasn't yet, nor would it be for several years yet either. With the sun being so hot and bright outside, they couldn't really afford to take Astra's sunhat off her, nor did he imagine that Astra would be overly thrilled with the prospect of losing her hat. He could already see Astra eyeing him with a narrowed eyed look that made her look just like the Hatter, practically daring him to try taking her hat off her. And to think, the Hatter kept going on about how alike he and Astra were, personally, he could see more of the Hatter in Astra then him.

Amy took the Stetson from Rory as he finished looking at the bullet hole, looking back to Isaac, "What does he want?" she asked him, trying to get them back on topic, "Has he issued some kind of demand?" she absently passed the hat back to Rory, who gave it back to the Doctor. He looked at it briefly before tossing it back across to Isaac.

"Says he wants us to give him the 'alien doctor,'" Isaac replied, shaking his head.

Amy and Rory both turned towards the Doctor as the Hatter looked thoughtful, "But that's you," Amy said quietly, eyeing him, "Why would he want to kill you?" she paused, looking him up and down, "Unless he's met you…."

The Doctor gave her an offended look, looking back to the Hatter, who smiled and shrugged, "Well, she does have a fair point, sweetheart," she commented, kissing his cheek when he pouted slightly.

"But how could he know that we'd be here?" Rory wondered aloud, looking between the Time Lords as they turned back to him and Amy. He lowered his voice to a whisper, leaning closer to them, " _We_ didn't even know we'd be here".

"Ah, yes," the Hatter sighed slightly, looking disappointed, "It's a shame we missed that festival, I was rather looking forward to it. I do so love all of the colour and sentiment of remembering their departed loved ones like that".

Amy looked back over to Isaac, giving him a quick smile, "We were aiming for Mexico," she informed him, seeing him looking a little puzzled. She pointed back to the Time Lords with her thumb, "They were taking us to see the Day of the Dead Festival".

"Mexico's two hundred miles due south," Isaac remarked, the Doctor and the Hatter frowned slightly as they eyed the light above his head flickering.

The Doctor shook his head, pulling his gaze away from the light as he exchanged a quick look with the Time Lady, "Well, that's what happens when people get toast crumbs and Astra's milk on the console," he turned on Amy and Rory, who leaned back slightly with sheepish expressions as even Astra threw them an annoyed look for spilling her bottle, even if it had been an accident.

"But that's beside the point right now," the Hatter cut in, clearing her throat as she lightly nudged the Doctor's side. She turned back to Isaac, raising an eyebrow, "I do believe that after the Doctor almost ended up being killed, we deserve to at least meet him, wouldn't you agree?"

Isaac eyed her carefully, "Who?"

The Doctor wrapped his free arm around the brunet's waist, lightly bobbing Astra in the other arm, "The chap outside said I could be the alien doctor," he said, giving him a knowing look, "But you said I wasn't, so you already know who it is. Two alien doctors!" he grinned, looking happily to the Hatter, who just so happened to be _another_ alien doctor herself, making it technically _three_ alien doctors, though he decided not to mention that little privet joke, "We're like buses!"

"Your sign has recently been amended," the Hatter added, shaking her head fondly at her husband's antics, "Resident eighty one, I assumed must be a new child, but I don't believe so," she shook her head, earning a small, disappointed pout from Astra that she wouldn't get to play with anyone her own age for once, "You must really love him if you went to all the effort to alter the sign, no doubt because he did something very special for the town…"

"For instance….these electrics he rigged up," he continued, nodding up to the light that had stopped flickering, "And I'm guessing he's in here…" he looked around the room, "Because if half the town suddenly wanted to throw me to my death…this is where I'd want to be," he and the Hatter turned around, facing the jail cell with the man still curled up beneath a blanket, eyeing him with knowing smiles.

Isaac took a hurried step forward, looking quite nervous but trying very hard to seem otherwise, "I don't know what you…" he began.

"It's alright, Isaac," the man called from beneath the blanket, tossing it off himself as he rose from the cot, "I think the time for subterfuge has passed," he stepped closer to the bars of the cell, revealing that he was an older, well-dressed man with an unusual green pattern on his skin that curved from above his left eye down to his cheek, near the corner of his mouth in a squiggly line. It almost looked like it could be a tattoo, except that it sat up slightly on his skin, "Good afternoon," he greeted them polity, a pair of spectacles perched on his nose, "My name is Kahler-Jex. I'm the doctor".

The Doctor and the Hatter looked at each other, grinning broadly, instantly recognising his race. Behind them, Isaac sighed and reached into his pocket for a set of keys, moving to unlock the cell door to let Jex out. Almost as soon as the man had stepped out, the Doctor was there, grabbing his hand and shaking it quite enthusiastically, barely giving the man a chance to blink.

"The Kahler," he said brightly, still grinning at the man, while the Hatter smiled fondly, looking amused, "I love the Kahler!" he quickly looked back over to Amy and Rory, still not letting go of the man's hand, "They're one of the most ingenious races in the galaxy. Seriously, they could build a spaceship out of Tupperware and moss".

"To be fair, Tupperware is pretty ingenious in itself," the Hatter commented, reaching out to gently pull the Doctor away from the poor man, who was starting to look a little uncomfortable with how excitedly the Doctor was shaking his hand, "Okay, sweetheart, leave the poor man alone now…" she said softly, guiding him over to a chair and lightly pushing him down onto it.

Astra held out her arms towards her, wanting to have a turn with her mother now since the Doctor seemed to be so overly excited about this new man. The Hatter picked her up from the Doctor's lap, taking a seat on the edge of the desk, sitting Astra down on her knee as the baby happily began sucking on the Time Lady's necklace the moment she could get her hands on it, making the Hatter sigh very slightly. It was a habit Astra had developed, the Hatter was quite sure that she was close to teething with how much she dribbled and constantly tried to shove things like the necklace and toys in her mouth.

"So, tell me, Jex," the Time Lady looked back up to Jex, who had moved to take a seat in the chair behind the desk with Isaac beside him, "You're quite a long way from home, how did you end up here?"

"My craft crashed about a mile out of town," Jex told them, "I would have died if Isaac and the others hadn't pulled me from the wreckage".

"And you stayed?" the Doctor asked brightly, "As their doctor?"

He nodded, "On my world, I was a surgeon, so it seemed logical," he said, "And it gave me an opportunity to repay my debt to them".

"Listen to him," Isaac laughed, shaking his head, "Talking like it was nothing. Tell them about the cholera," he leaned over and slapped Jex's shoulder, very nearly sending the man into the table with the force, but he didn't seem annoyed.

"Now, Isaac, I'm sure our guests are…"

"Two years after he arrived, there was an outbreak of cholera," Isaac cut across him, glancing at Jex, "Thanks for the doc here, not a single person died".

"A minor infection we'd found a treatment for centuries ago".

"No, no, what, what do you call them?" he pointed up to the light above the desk, "The electrics?"

"Using my ship as a generator, I was able to rig up some rudimentary heating and lighting for the town".

The Hatter frowned slightly, exchanging a quick look with the Doctor, neither of them quite understanding why Jex would be being targeted in the first place when it seemed like he was a clever, well-mannered man who had done what he could to help the town. But as much as the Hatter wanted to like Jex, there was something there, something niggling her at the back of her mind when she listened to all that he had done that made her question whether or not Jex was simply _too_ nice and helpful to be believable. People who were usually just trying to be nice and helpful, normally didn't end up getting targeted by people like the Gunslinger, though, having said that, she supposed the same could be said about herself and the Doctor. Still, her instincts told her that there was more to Jex then he was presenting to them right now and she always trusted her instincts.

"Well, you certainly seemed to have done a fine job here for the town and people," the Time Lady smiled slightly, deciding that it would be best to pretend as if she didn't have any concerns or doubts right now. Even still, she couldn't help holding Astra a bit tighter, "But, I am rather curious as to why the Gunslinger would be after you?" she eyed Jex closely, "After all the good you've done, it makes no sense".

"It don't matter," Isaac shook his head, frowning at her, and her eyebrows rose.

The Doctor sat forward in seat, glancing briefly at the Hatter, "I believe what my wife was just saying, is that if we knew that…" he began.

"America's the land of second chances," he interrupted him, "We called this town Mercy for a reason. Others…" he paused, his expression growing harder, "Some round here don't feel that way".

"Now, Isaac," Jex said firmly, "We've discussed this".

"People whose lives you've saved are suddenly saying we should hand you over".

"They're _scared_ , that's all. You can hardly blame them".

"Them being scared scares _me_ ," Isaac turned back to the Time Lords, his expression very serious, "War only ended five years back. That old violence is still under the surface. We give up Doc Jex, then we hand the keys of the town over to chaos".

"Did you try to repair your craft?" the Doctor asked, looking at Jex, giving him a small smile, "Surely someone with your skills…"

"It really was very badly damaged," Jex told them, frowning.

The Hatter gave him a bright smile, "Well, I could take a look, if you'd like," she offered, catching the Doctor's eye, knowing that he wasn't any more sure of Jex as she was, "An extra pair of hands and eyes can do wonders, and I really am quite skilled with spaceship mechanics".

"Oh, there's really nothing more that can be done, I assure you," he shook his head, looking quite grave, "I've done all that I could to use what was left to build a generator".

She nodded slowly, giving him an understanding smile, "Well, you've done wonderfully well with what you had," she gestured towards the light, still pretending to completely trust him. He certainly did tell a good story, whether it was true remained to be seen.

The Doctor rose from his chair and the Hatter followed suit, bouncing Astra on her hip as the baby continued sucking on her necklace, tugging on the chain a little harder than was comfortable against the sensitive flesh of her neck.

"We evacuate the town," the Doctor announced, exchanging a look with the Time Lady, "Our ship's just over the hills, room for everyone," he spun around, taking a seat on the edge of the desk with his back facing Isaac and Jex. He gestured to himself and the Hatter, smiling as he shrugged, "We'll pop out, bring it back, Robert's your uncle".

"Really?" Amy eyed them suspiciously; her arms cross over her chest, "Simple as that? No crazy schemes, no negotiations?"

"I've matured," he replied, his eyes lingering briefly on Astra, his expression softening as he watched her still slobbering on the Hatter's necklace. He bet the Hatter's mother never imagine that _his_ daughter would be sucking on it when she gave it to the Hatter all those centuries ago. The Hatter's mother probably would have died from the horror of it, "I'm a father, again. Not to mention twelve hundred years old," he picked up the Stetson with the bullet hole in it from off the desk, flashing the Hatter a grin, quite proud to have gotten himself a hat, like he had been determined to do when they first arrived, "Plus, I don't want to miss the 'The Archers".

The Hatter laughed, giving him a fond look as he stood from the desk and stepped across to the door. She turned to Amy, "Would you mind babysitting Astra?" she asked her hopefully, "She shouldn't be any trouble, I've brought her number blocks along, so you should just be able to sit on the floor and make equations up for her to solve. She'll be quite happy with that. Use a calculator on your phone, if you need to, she's used to doing quite complex equations".

She wasn't overly thrilled with the prospect of leaving Astra behind with Jex, but he didn't seem to suspect that they might not completely believe him and while he still didn't realise that, he wouldn't do anything to break his cover, if that was what was going on. She didn't see any reason for why Jex would become suspicious of them, anyway, and she trusted that if anything did go wrong that Amy would take care of Astra.

"I'd be happy to," Amy said, though she was still eyeing the Time Lords as she moved to take Astra from the Hatter's arms, the baby making a noise of annoyance at having to let go of the pretty, shinny necklace, but she soon became distracted by Amy's hair. Amy paused, giving the Time Lady a quick look, "You can't seriously be telling me that Astra is already doing _maths_?"

"Of course she's doing maths, Amy," the Doctor rolled his eyes, "She's five and a half months old, what else would she be doing?'

"But didn't she only _just_ start sitting upright?"

"Time Lord brains advance cognitive functions develop while their still in the womb," the Hatter explained to her, looking amused by how amazed Amy and Rory both looked by the idea that Astra was capable of doing maths that not even they would be able to do, "Physically and emotionally, she's like a human baby at five and a half months, her muscles still slowly developing, hence why she's not yet capable of speech, but mentally she has the ability to understand complex and advance mathematics," she lightly tickled Astra's cheek, "It might be hard for you to imagine, but it's really quite normal for a Time Tot".

Amy looked back to Astra, who was tugging at her a lock of her hair, slightly shocked by the idea that the baby she was currently holding could probably do maths more advance then she could ever dream of doing, but then again, it shouldn't be surprising. Astra might look human and act like a normal baby most of the time, but she was still alien and the Doctor and the Hatter's daughter, of course she was going to be super-smart.

"Okay, so you want me to babysit Astra," she nodded, dragging her eyes away from the baby and back to the Time Lords, "I can do that, but aren't you even a _tiny_ bit curious about this Gunslinger?" she frowned, eyeing them suspiciously as the Hatter moved to stand beside the Doctor in the doorway.

"Why would we be curious?" the Doctor raised his eyebrows, taking the Hatter's hand, still holding his hat in the other, "It's a mysterious space cowboy assassin. Curious? Of course we're not curious," he shook his head at the mere idea and moved to step outside with the Time Lady.

"Son?" Isaac called after him, making the Time Lords pause and step back into the doorway, the Doctor raising his eyebrows questioningly, "You've got to get past the Gunslinger," he reminded him, "How you going to do that?"

The Doctor looked back to the Hatter, who gave him a smile as he slowly put the Stetson on his head, not lowering his gaze from her as he did so, feeling quite proud of himself as he noticed the very faint pink tinge in her cheeks. Yep, this hat would so make up for missing out on the Day of the Dead Festival that he had tried to take them to. He forced himself to look away from her and back over to Isaac.

"With a slight of hand," he replied, before he and the Hatter turned, disappearing back outside the door, leaving the humans to stare after them.

…

The plan was to dress Isaac in Jex's clothing and send him and Rory off into the desert, beyond the boarder running around the town in order to draw the Gunslinger's attention onto them, rather than the Time Lords, while Amy and Astra would be staying behind with Jex. The Hatter had to admit that she still wasn't overly happy about the idea of leaving Astra and Amy alone with Jex, but for now it should be safe and there really wasn't any way that she could think of to make Jex suspicious of their true intentions. But it wasn't just the girls she was worried about, it was the fact that Rory and Isaac would be acting as bait, but there really wasn't any other way to distract the Gunslinger.

After the Hatter had returned to the salon and brought Astra's pram to the Marshal's Office, making sure that Astra was set up on the floor with her number blocks surrounding her, the Hatter stepped outside to join the Doctor as he waited on the veranda. They shared a quick look and cast the door behind them a wary glance, both wondering if it truly was wise to be leaving Astra and Amy behind like this, but they could hardly take them and if they suddenly decided to change their plan now, it could make Jex suspicious. So, they had little choice in the matter, they had to continue and hope that their plan wouldn't be discovered until after they had returned. It was a risk, quite a large one considering that Jex was highly intelligent and that they didn't know what he was fully capable of yet, but it was one that they would have to take.

The Doctor gave her a comforting smile and took her hand, squeezing it, "They'll be fine, Hatter," he said softly, lifting her hand up to his mouth, pressing a light kiss onto her knuckles.

"I just hate leaving Astra behind like this on adventures," she muttered, frowning deeply as she looked out over the street ahead of them, people bustling around a bit more then they had been when they first arrived, though they were still getting a few mistrustful looks from people passing by, "I know that she's with Amy and that she'll be so busy playing with her blocks, she probably want even notice we're gone, but I do so hate the thought of it".

"I know," he sighed, nodding, "I don't like it either, but like you said, she has Amy and Amy will look after her".

She shot the door behind them another look and took a deep, steady breath, "Let's just get this over and done with," she whispered warily, meeting his eyes again, "I don't want to leave either of them alone with Jex for a moment more than strictly needed until we know if he can be trusted".

"He does seem a little _too_ nice, doesn't he?"

"Indeed. If something seems to be perfect, it's usually anything but".

He nodded grimly, he had gotten the same funny feeling about Jex, that he was keeping something back, that he seemed to be just a little too eager to be helpful. He couldn't put his finger on what it was exactly about the man that made him feel uneasy, but it was there, once you began speaking to him and hearing his story, something just didn't quite feel right, a niggling feeling at the back of your mind nagging you that he was simply too good to be true. He did very much hope that they were wrong and that Jex was truly what he seemed to be, but if centuries of travelling had taught him anything it was that scratching beneath the surface often revealed a much darker side.

He squeezed her hand again before they set off down the steps, stepping down onto the dusty dirt road of the street. He spotted the preacher across the other side of the street, hitching a brown horse to a post outside one of the shops, and the two of them exchanged a brief look before striding across the street towards the man.

"Can we borrow your horse, please?" he asked him quickly, barely giving the man a chance to turn around before he was already helping give the Hatter a boost up onto the saddle, following her up the moment she had swung her leg over the other side of the horse, "It's official Marshal business," he came to sit behind the Hatter, who had already taken the reigns and was gently patting the horse's neck with a happy expression. She was a better horse rider then him; personally he thought it was because horses tended to like her better than him.

The preacher began untying the rope connecting the horse to the post, "He's called Joshua," he informed them with a smile, not seeming to be overly bothered by them suddenly commandeering his horse, "It's from the Bible. It means 'the Deliverer".

The horse gave a small neigh and the Doctor paused, listening closely, "No, he isn't," he told the man.

"What?" he gave him a confused look.

"He speaks horse," the Hatter informed the man, glancing at the Doctor from the corner of her eye with a fond look, "He tried to teach me once, but I just don't have the same knack for languages as him".

The Doctor straightened slightly, looking quite smug as he looked back down to the preacher, "He's called Susan," he pattered the horse's flank, just as the horse gave another grunt, "And he wants you to respect his life choices. Ready when you are, dear," he turned back towards the Hatter, very pleased to have an excuse to be able to hug her from behind like this.

The Hatter grinned and tipped her hat towards the preacher, who still looked very confused, before lightly nudging her heels against the horse's side and giving the reigns a tug, "Come on, Susan!" she urged as the horse took off galloping down the street, kicking up dust as they went. It must have been an odd sight for the locals to see a woman steering the horse while the Doctor held onto her from behind, but they never had been overly keen on tradition or gender stereotyping.

As they continued riding down the road and out through the barrier that surrounded the town, the Hatter couldn't help imagining the sound of Western music playing in the background…until she mentally gave herself a sharp shake, wondering whether or not the sun was finally starting to get to her. More than likely, it was quite bright out, but the Doctor's excitement at being in the middle of a proper Western style American town seemed to be catching, she just hoped she wouldn't make an idiot out of herself like he had with that toothpick back in the saloon.

"Hatter!" the Doctor called suddenly in her ear, his chin resting on her shoulder, "Slow down, I think I saw something just ahead".

The Hatter blinked and tried squinting her eyes through the cloud of dust that was surrounding them and the bright glare of the sun, but after a second, she thought she saw what he was referring to, "Whoa, Whoa, Susan!" she tugged on the reigns, bringing the horse to a slow trot, sighing slightly as the horse gave an annoyed neigh.

"Yes, I know we have to get a move on, but we just need to have a look at something," the Doctor assured the horse as the Hatter brought it to a complete stop in the middle of the desert, apologetically patting its mane, "Two ticks," he said as he hopped down, pausing to help lift the Hatter down, too, though it was more for the purpose to have an excuse to touch her, something she was well away of as she gave him a raised eyebrow look.

"Ever the gentlemen, sweetheart," she commented lightly, shaking her head in amusement as she straightened her hat. She turned and began to move around Susan, who huffed loudly again.

"Yes, yes," he shot the horse a quick look as he followed the Hatter, "It could be important…" he and the Time Lady knelt down amongst the dirt and small, spidery shrubs that were scattered around, looking for something, just as Susan gave another grunt, "Oi!" his head snapped back around to it, "Don't swear".

The Hatter laughed slightly, catching the Doctor's eye, "I certainly do like a horse with attitude".

"Of course you do, dear," he shook his head fondly.

She went to open her mouth, when she paused, frowning as she heard what sounded like an electrical current humming somewhere close by. She looked down amongst the dirt and shrubs, when she noticed a long, thick pieces of cleverly disguised cable was running along the ground, "Bingo…" she picked up the cable and glanced at the Doctor, "It's live, I can feel the current".

The Doctor grabbed a piece of the cable and gave it a small sniff, before tugging on it. Now that they knew what to look for, they could easily spot the cable running all the way back to town and all the way up a couple of small hills ahead of them, disappearing from sight over a ridge. The Doctor and the Hatter looked at each other before jumping onto their feet, dashing back over to Susan and climbing back onto the horse's back, the Time Lady setting them off again in a fast trot, following the length of cable all the way up the mountain and beyond the ridge, when they came across a large lump sitting on the side of a small hill, covered with a sand coloured tarp. The cable was running directly into whatever was hidden beneath the tarp, sections of it sparking as they neared.

"Okay, Susan, I think we've reached our destination," the Hatter said as she gently brought the horse to a stop a short distance away from the mound.

The Doctor began to swing himself down onto the ground, just as the horse gave another snort, "Yes, I wear a Stetson now," he remarked proudly, lightly patting Susan's head as the Hatter climbed down easily.

"Do you think Astra's giving Amy a headache yet?" the Hatter asked with a small grin. Astra truly was proving to have inherited her academic mind, constantly searching for ways to entertain herself with learning new things, maths was just the latest.

"More than likely, dear," he replied, returning her grin as he reached out to take her hand. Together, they approached the curious mound and grabbed the edge of the tarp, pulling it back to reveal a large, completely intact, egg-like ship, looking even more out of place given the completely white colour of it. Behind them, Susan gave another neigh and he looked quickly back over to the horse, "Yes, good point, Susan," he turned back to the ship, eyeing it closely, "Where _is_ the damage?"

The Hatter let go of his hand to slowly circle the ship, running her hands across the smooth surface, frowning deeply as she went. There wasn't any damage, not even a scratch or signs of previous repairs, in fact, the ship looked almost brand-new. On the other side of the ship, the Doctor struggled to climb on top of the ship, slipping a couple of times as he tried to get a foothold until the Hatter, laughing, moved to help give him a boost, gritting her teeth all the while.

"Honestly, sweetheart," she muttered once he was finally up, brushing dust from off her hands, "You're a lot heavier than your scrawny appearance would make one believe".

"I'm not scrawny!" he exclaimed, looking quite offended. As though to prove his point, he puffed out his chest proudly, but it only made him look like a fish.

She laughed again, shaking her head, "You're adorable".

He gave her a mock glare and held out his hand, "I'll show you scrawny…" he mumbled, earning a grin from her as she accepted his hand up on top of the ship. Once they were both up, he turned his attention back onto the ship, knocking against the metal to listen for an echo. He even moved to stand upright to try stomping on it, but the Hatter stopped him.

"As amusing as it would be to see you practicing your dance moves, Doctor," she smiled at him as she let go of his arm, looking highly amused, "I do believe I heard an echo. There must be a hidden hatch".

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, flashing it at the ship…just when an ear piercing alarm began going off, making them both wince loudly. They covered their ears quickly, just as a square panel slide open and the Doctor hopped down into it, the Time Lady following a moment later, only to find herself landing almost directly on top of the Doctor's lap, the ship very small inside with only one chair that directly faced a computer screen.

"Ooh, this is a bit cosy," she remarked, trying to move sideways slightly so that she wasn't completely blocking his view of the screen, throwing an arm over his shoulders.

"Shame about the alarm ruining the mood, though," the Doctor winced as the alarm continued blaring. There was no way that the alarm had gone unnoticed, perhaps it had even reached the town, which meant that they needed to work very quickly and get out of here as soon as possible.

"Security breach," the computer announced, red warning lights flashing around the cabin, just as the hatch above their heads sealed shut again, "You have ten seconds to enter the pass code or this vehicle will self-destruct…" the Hatter plucked the sonic screwdriver out of the Doctor's hands, since he was slightly trapped by her, and aimed it at the control panel in front of them, "Thank you for choosing Abarakes Security software. Incinerating intruders for three centuries. Nine…" it began counting down on the screen, "…eight, seven…" the Hatter grinned, sighing in relief as she finally managed to find the right frequency to override the command, "Self-destruct overridden".

"Finally," the Hatter breathed, her ears still ringing from the alarms as they stopped, too. She frowned, looking around at the cabin, "This security is a little over the top for a small spaceship, isn't it?" she glanced back to the Doctor, accidently hitting him in the face with the brim of her hat.

"It is a little odd," the Doctor agreed, eyeing the computer screen.

"Awaiting command," the computer said suddenly.

They exchanged a brief look before the Doctor turned back to the screen, "Tell us everything you can about the Gunslinger," he ordered it.

"File not found…"

"Typical," the Time Lady sighed, shaking her head in annoyance.

"…Please choose from Technical Specifications, Flight Recorder, Personal Files, Maps, and Charts".

"Personal files of Doctor Kahler-Jex," the Doctor said.

The screen changed to show an image of Jex with a list of personal information, while on the other side of the screen row upon row of text appeared, moving rapidly with the heading above it of 'Experimental Cyborg Program Millitary Science Unit'.

"Names of deceased subjects can be found on the drop down menu…" Jex's voice came over, before images after images, each one more terrible then the last, began flying passed the screen.

The Doctor and the Hatter could only watch on in horror as videos began playing, featuring men and woman, screaming in agonising pain in what appeared to be a laboratory. Information streamed across the scream, detailing with cold, clinical observations each subject's results, all ending with the subject being declared dead, usually after a great deal of pain.

"Oh, my…" the Hatter trailed off, looking close to being sick as she stared at the screen, unable to look away, "Doctor, we have to get back!" she finally managed to look away, her eyes wide as she frantically looked back to him, "We left Amy and Astra with him!"

The Doctor paled even more as the mention of Astra's name before his expression grew hard with anger. The Hatter used the sonic screwdriver to open the hatch and they quickly climbed out, wincing against the sudden bright sun after having been sitting in the dimly lit spaceship. They could still hear the screams of Jex's victims in their ears; still see the images of them playing over and over again, disgust and horror slowly replaced by anger. Neither of them had trusted Jex, they had both suspected that something wasn't quite right about him, but they could never have expected something like this. And now, Amy and Astra were alone with him, completely defenceless and with no idea of who they were dealing with.

Suddenly, from behind them, the sound of an energy weapon being started up sounded. Slowly, they turned around to find the Gunslinger standing behind them with a large gun aimed right at them. The Doctor's eyes widened and he practically flung himself at the Hatter, trying to shield her.

"Don't shoot!" he cried frantically, "Don't shoot! Don't shoot!"

"We just want to talk!" the Hatter called, hoping that might work. Very slightly, the Gunslinger lowered his weapon, eyeing them with a completely emotionless face, one eye that of a robot, while the other was normal. She and the Doctor slowly turned back to face him, though the Doctor was still standing slightly in front of her, "We understand now," she said softly, staring at the Gunslinger, feeling her hearts breaking for everything he had been through, "We know who you are, and the horrific crimes that Jex committed".

The Gunslinger lowered his weapon down to his side, still watching them.

"Now," the Doctor began, relaxing slightly now that his wife wasn't in danger of possibly being shot, "What I don't understand is why you haven't just walked into town and killed him".

"People will get in the way," the Gunslinger replied.

"I see," the Hatter nodded, "You're trying to protect the town's people, prevent them from getting caught up in your fight against Jex. That's admirable, but seeking justice like this…an eye for an eye, that sort of mentality isn't the way," she gave him a half-pleading look, "Please, I know how it feels to want to find justice like that, I've come so close to doing just that myself, but that doesn't make it right. Jex deserves to be punished, but you shouldn't be the one to decide what punishment he gets, but _we_ can help ensure that he goes on trial…"

He aimed the weapon at them again, glaring, "When he starts killing _your_ people, you can use _your_ justice," he said, and the Doctor and the Hatter swallowed, eyeing the weapon nervously. After a moment, he lowered the weapon back to his side, "No more warning shots," he told them, "I'll kill the next person to step over that line. Make sure it's Jex".

With that final warning, he turned and walked away from the Time Lords as they watched him go before he teleported away. The Time Lords met each other's eyes, their expressions grim.

 _ **Hello! It's been a while, I know, and I apologise for that, life has become very busy for me of late. I had an interview to see about getting into a nursing course, then I've had driving lessons and been booked in to go for my licence next month, and I've also been working on a little project that I had trouble figuring out how to continue up until recently. Also, have I mentioned that I'm not really a Western fan? This isn't one of my favourite episodes, probably another reason for why I haven't been that motivated to keep writing it, but the first half is finished, finally. Tell me what you thought, please review :)**_

 _ **Guest reviews:**_

 _ **Mo's Pizza:**_ _ **I'm glad to be back, not that I ever go very far. I'm practically addicted to my laptop. It was very disappointing, wasn't it? I'm still not over how they portrayed the First Doctor, every time I think about it I just feel upset and annoyed. Ooh, yay, questions! (I promise, I'm not high on sugar right now, even though I probably sound like it…).**_

 _ **Yep, the Hatter is well aware of the fact that the Doctor is on his last regeneration, but I feel like she's trying to pretend as though it's not happening. I think she's trying to just forget about it and live more in the moment, sort of thing, especially now that they have Astra to think about, too.**_

 _ **First Hatter, died from old age. Second, the Time Lords. Third, possibly fell from a great height, possibly. Fourth, she got hit by a Cyberman's gun. Fifth, possibly radiation poisoning, but again, possibly. Six and Seven, not sure, I sadly feel as though I haven't had much of a chance to get to know those two versions of her yet. Eight, Time War, Nine accidently shot by Lucy Saxon, and Ten, Silurian venom. I say possibly with Three and Five because I had a habit of changing my mind once I actually start writing, so I wouldn't want to contradict myself later on if I do end up writing something about how they died.**_

 _ **Nope, the Hatter never, ever fought during the Time War, she was completely behind the scenes, working with the High Council/War Council and in labs. As for a War version…spoilers!**_

 _ **Aww, thank you so much, and did I really? I must have it written down wrong in my notes, I'll have to go back and check that. Thank you for pointing it out, though, and for the review :)**_

 _ **Doctor 13 (1):**_ _ **I'm so happy you liked the chapter. Aww, I know, I remember feeling so sad for the triceratops when I first watched the episode, Solomon really did deserve what he got in the end of the episode, even though I remember being pretty shocked with the Doctor when he did it.**_

 _ **Oh, I know, I'm going to miss Amy and Rory so much, I remember watching the episode for the first time and crying, which is very rare for me, hopefully I won't end up crying while trying to write the scene because that could be very embarrassing to have to explain.**_

 _ **I'm not completely sure who at this point, I'm tossing between a couple of actresses, but one is in the lead, but I don't want to say anything until I get to that point in the story. Thanks for the review :)**_

 _ **Doctor 13 (2):**_ _ **Yep, the Hatter knows all about the War Doctor. I was pretty shocked at first when I found out that Jodie Whittaker had been cast, but after a couple of days, I really started to warm to the idea and I'm quite happy about it now. To me, Doctor Who shouldn't be about gender, it should just be about the character itself, what does it matter if the character is male or female? I do like the tradition of the Doctor being male, but the reason why the show is still going today is because it's constantly changing, constantly surprising, and I also think because it inspires people, too. What could be more inspiring to a young girl then to see a beloved character like the Doctor become a woman? Gender has nothing to do with the show; it's the story and the character that matters :)**_

 _ **Doctor 13 (3):**_ _ **Ah, yes, the plot-point that I never have quite managed to get back to explaining, have I? The Hatter's human boyfriend from when she was Emma Smith. No, he's not still waiting for her to come home or putting up missing persons flyers, back before the Hatter regenerated into her Tenth body, the Hatter went back to explain to him what happened. I don't really see the Hatter being comfortable being with the Doctor while she was, technically, still dating another guy, so I see her going back and trying to explain to the human boyfriend everything. Needless to say, I can't imagine it going over to well, can you?**_

 _ **Clayman01 (1 &2): **__**Did I answer this on my Tumblr? I kind of feel like I might have, but just in case I'll reply on here. I probably won't do an adaption of the JFK idea that was suggested to me, it's interesting and the books sounds interesting, too, but I just don't think I'll write a story about it. Maybe I'll do a one-shot one day with the Doctor and the Hatter having something to do with JFK, but at this point I have no plans for it. Oh, and for anyone interested in what book I'm referring to, it's called 'JFK and the Unspeakable' by James W. Douglass.**_

 _ **Smallvillefan:**_ _ **I'm so happy you like the stories and the characters, thank you so much. It's a nice idea, but I've never watched a single episode of Smalleville. It started a little before my time, I was only about five years when the show first started, so I kind of missed it and to be perfectly honest, I'm not much of a Superman fan. I'm a Marvel girl, but why don't you try writing the story? I write because I couldn't find just the right type of story that I wanted to read, so I decided to write the story myself. It sounds like you have a pretty good story idea and if you want any tips/advice, I'd more than happy to help :)**_

 _ **Guest (1):**_ _ **Yes, exactly! The Doctor started off grumpy, but as time wore on, he softened. He started to really show that he did care about his companions and that, at the heart of his character, he really was a grandfather. He could be quite hard at times, snappy and possibly even a little patronising, but he could also be whimsical, caring, and protective, especially over the young women that he travelled with. I've only seen a few of his episodes, but not once did I ever see him acting the way that they had him being in the Christmas Special and I think it terrible that most people are now going to think that that was the type of character he was back then, because it couldn't be further from the truth. I mean, if the Doctor really had been so sexist, why would he have brought Susan with him from Gallifrey? And what about all the other women who travelled with him during that time? The whole episode is, by far, the worst episode of Doctor Who I think I have ever watched and you really can see that it was a last minute script. Did anyone even double check it and say 'Oh, isn't the First Doctor acting a little out of character? Would One really have said/done that?' And Rusty…just why? Why was he even in the episode at all? The whole thing is just awful, save for the part when the Doctor regenerates, in my eyes. Thank you for the review and I hope you enjoyed the chapter :)**_

 _ **Guest (2):**_ _ **I've got about a thousand words written for the next chapter of 'What If?' I just haven't had a chance to keep writing it. I've never written for Twelve before, so I kind of feel like I'm a little out of depth while trying to write for him, but I'm getting there. I know how I want the chapter to go and I have it all mapped out in my head, it's just getting it written down that I haven't finished yet.**_


	7. Chapter 7 A Town Called Mercy, Part 2

_**A Town Called Mercy, Part 2**_

The Hatter urged Susan the horse on as they galloped back to town, already seeing the entrance of the town nearing them as they went. The Doctor was sitting behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist, dust filling the air from the horse's hooves, but they didn't let it distract them. They needed to get back to the town, back to the Marshals office to make sure that Amy and Astra were both okay. It was probably too much to hope that the alarm from Jex's ship hadn't echoed back through the desert to the town, which placed Amy and Astra in a very dangerous position. Jex would be desperate to try and escape and desperate people, especially those who had a history of poor morals and ethics, would be willing to do anything if they thought their life might be threatened. Jex wouldn't hesitate to possibly place an infant and defenceless woman in harm's way.

They finally rode into town and the Hatter had barely even brought the horse to a stop outside the Marshal's office before the Doctor was already jumping down, the Time Lady following suit a moment later, dust covering their clothing and the Hatter's hat on a funny angle, but neither of them had time to stop to tidy themselves up as they hurried across to the front stairs of the office, dashing up them, just as voices from within the building reached them.

"It was stupid of me, I realise that now," Jex was saying, sounding as though he was doing a lot of very fast thinking, "I just thought I'd put you all in enough danger. Perhaps if I left…"

"Oh, you're not going anywhere," the Hatter said coldly as she and the Doctor walked into the room, glaring at Jex, who was standing with his back against the wall and his hands held up in front of him, trying hard to look as innocent as possible. Rory and Isaac had returned from distracting the Gunslinger, both looking unharmed, while Amy was standing next to Rory, cradling Astra in her arms.

They all turned towards the couple as they strolled closer to Jex, looking quite startled by the angry expressions on the Time Lords faces. The Hatter moved passed Isaac and Rory, barely taking her cold eyes off Jex as she reached Amy, who wordlessly passed Astra over to her, the Time Lady immediately hugging the baby tightly, relief blooming inside her that both Amy and Astra were perfectly fine.

"He's lying," the Doctor stepped closer to Jex, who slowly edged sideways along the wall, staring back at the Doctor's face with a flicker of fear, "Every word, everything he says, _it's all lies_ ," he practically whispered the last three words, looming over Jex, who was forced to come to a stop as he run out of places to move. He stared at him, not blinking, "This man is a murderer".

"I am a scientist," Jex defended himself quickly, his eyes wide.

"Don't you _dare_ call yourself that," the Hatter hissed, almost shaking with anger as the man actually flinched at her tone, while Amy and Rory exchanged a worried look. She clutched Astra tighter to her, just wishing she could take her baby as far away as possible from Jex. She felt disgusted with herself that she had allowed Astra to stay a second in his company without her. Slowly, she stepped closer to the man, holding Astra so that she couldn't see Jex, "You have no right to call yourself a scientist," she said through clenched teeth, barely keeping her composer, "Now, sit down and start telling the truth".

Jex almost gaped at her, looking positively stunned by everything that was happening, while the other humans could only watch on in shock and confusion, even Astra was being unusually silent, clutching onto her mother's arm, sensing both of her parent's anger.

"SIT DOWN!" the Doctor suddenly shouted, and Jex sunk down onto the chair behind him, still staring up at them with wide eyes. He took a deep breath, struggling to calm himself, "Tell them what you are," he ordered him, his voice level.

"What am I?" Jex gripped the armrest of the chairs, his voice shaking slightly as he raised his chin proudly, "A war hero".

The Hatter scoffed loudly, looking at him in disgust, "Okay…" Isaac cut in, frowning at the Time Lords in confusion. He moved around them to stand beside Jex's chair, looking back up to them, "Somebody want to tell me what is going on?"

"The Gunslinger is a Cyborg," the Doctor informed him, his expression grim.

"A what?"

"Half-man, half-machine," the Hatter explained, moving to take a seat on the edge of the desk, settling Astra on her lap. She pulled her gaze off Jex, unable to look at him for very long without feeling the urge to be sick, instead turning her attention onto Isaac, "Jex and his team took innocent people, people who had volunteered to help fight, and lied to them," she struggled to keep her voice level, feeling the anger and disgust bubbling up inside her, "He told them that they had been selected for _special training_ , but the truth was that he was using them as lab rats, experimenting on them and fusing their flesh with metal and weapons, turning them into machines programmed for one purpose: killing".

Isaac blinked slowly, looking as though he was struggling to process everything, while Amy and Rory looked quickly back to Jex, horrified, "Okay," he nodded slowly, frowning deeply, " _Why_?" he looked back to Jex, "Why would you do that, Doc?"

"We'd been at war for nine years," Jex told them, sighing as the Doctor and the Hatter exchanged a look, "A war that had already decimated half of our planet. Our task was to bring peace, and we did," he looked directly at the Time Lords, looking proud, "We build an army that routed the enemy and ended the war in less than a week. Do you want me to _repent_ , to beg for forgiveness for saving millions of lives?"

The Doctor swopped on him, leaning right into his face, glaring furiously, "And how many died _screaming_ on the operating table before you had found _your_ advantage?" he snarled, and the Hatter rose from the desk and moved to gently pull him back, not wishing for him to do something on impulse that he might later regret having Astra witness.

"War is another world," Jex said calmly, almost looking amused, "You cannot apply the politics of peace to what I did, to what any of us did".

"Don't speak to us about war," the Hatter snapped, still keeping her hand firmly on the Doctor's arm. She glared back over to Jex, "We know well enough the horrors of war, the questionable choices that sometimes one must make, but there is still a line and you crossed it," she took a deep, calming breath, not looking away from him, "If the price for peace means the death of _one_ person, then how can you call that _peace_?"

"And what would you do, for the price of peace?"

She swallowed, hard, briefly meeting the Doctor's eyes, "I already know what I would do, and it's a choice I regret every single second," she said quietly, holding Astra tighter, thinking back to that night when she gave the Doctor the Moment and told him to use it. It might have ended the Time War, but It was a choice no one should have had the power to make, not her, not the Doctor, not even the Time Lords. No one should have the power over life and death, but in the moment, she and the Doctor did, and they had used it to destroy their home and people. It hadn't been peace that she had been trying to accomplish in the end; the Time War had gone too far for that, in the end it had been about protecting the rest of the Universe against the Time Lords final plan.

Rory looked between the Time Lords, tension and anger almost rolling off them in waves, before turning back towards Jex, "What happened then?" he asked him, trying to keep the conversation going, "How come you're here?"

Jex pulled his gaze off the Time Lords, sighing heavily again, "When the war ended we had the Cyborgs decommissioned," he explained, looking back to the humans, "But one of them must have got its circuitry damaged in battle. It went offline and began hunting down the team that created it until just two of us were left. We fled…" he took a breath, looking pointedly around the room, "And our ships crashed here".

Rory stared at him for a moment longer before casting the Doctor and the Hatter a look over his shoulder, watching as they refused to even glance at Jex, the Doctor lightly resting his hand on the Hatter's lower back as the Time Lady lighted bounced Astra in her arms, still keeping the baby's back turned to Jex. He tried to catch their eyes, but if they noticed at all they simply ignored him and he was forced to sigh in frustration and annoyance, turning back towards Amy and Isaac. Apparently, it was up to them.

"So, what do we do with Jex?" he moved to stand between Isaac and Amy, keeping his voice low as he turned his back on Jex. He looked at Isaac, who knew Jex better than any of them, or at the very least the longest.

Isaac frowned at him, looking startled, "What do we _do_ with him?"

"Yeah. I mean, he's a war criminal…"

"No," he shook his head firmly, looking at Rory as though he had lost his mind, "He's the guy that saved the town from cholera, the guy that gave us heat and light".

"Look," Amy began, looking between both men, "Jex may be a criminal and yeah, kind of creepy…"

"And still in the room," Jex said behind them, giving them an annoyed look as they glanced back to him.

Amy pretended as though he hadn't interrupted, looking back to Isaac and Rory, "But I think we should put aside what he did and find another solution," she continued.

"Another solution?" Rory repeated, his eyes widening, "It's him or us".

"When did we start letting people get executed?" she hissed, shaking her head in disbelief that they were actually discussing this right now, "Did I miss a memo? Hatter, tell him," she looked back over to the Time Lords, certain that the Hatter wouldn't stand for talk like this.

The Hatter blinked and slowly lifted her head to look back over to them, seeming quite distracted as Astra toyed with her necklace, "I'm sorry, did someone say my name?" she looked at them blankly for a moment, earning a confused and bewildered look from Amy and Rory, who were quite stunned that she hadn't even been paying attention. They were in the middle of discussing what to do with Jex and she and the Doctor looked as they had stepped into a completely different world, it was very, very unlike them to not be completely in control and planning everything, or at the very least pretending to be.

"Hatter, are you okay?" Amy questioned worriedly, eyeing her closely. This wasn't right, the Doctor might be easily distracted, but the Hatter would never just…shut out everything and everyone like this, not when they were discussing a person's _life_.

"Oh…yes, fine," she nodded slowly in the same distracted, blank way as before, frowning deeply at the wall behind Amy's head, rather than actually looking at her face. She looked anything but fine right now, but of course Amy and Rory weren't to know that inwardly, she was only just managing to control her anger, using every ounce of her self control to try and keep what little of her composer that she had left, and if she was honest with herself, she was certain that if it wasn't for Astra in her arms right now, she probably would have lunged at Jex and done something that she likely would have regretted later. This entire situation was just simply too close to home, it brought up so many memories of the Time War, to many memories of the things she had done that she never otherwise would have done, what she and the Doctor had both been forced to become just to survive and fight, it was all just too much.

"Looking at you, Doctor," Jex said suddenly, sneering at the Doctor, who tensed, "Is like looking into a mirror, almost," he calmly sat back in his chair as he eyed the Doctor, even casually using a cloth to clean his glasses, "There's rage there, like me. Guilt, like me. Solitude…" his expression grew harder and the Hatter swallowed nervously, throwing the Doctor a quick look. This couldn't possibly end well, "Everything but the nerve to do what needs to be done," he continued coldly, sitting up straighter as he slipped his glasses back inside his pocket, "Thank the Gods my people weren't relaying on _you_ to save them".

The Hatter closed her eyes tightly, sucking in a deep breath, "Astra, be brave for Mummy," she whispered in the baby's ear before gently kissing her temple. She wasn't completely sure what the Doctor might do now, how far his temper might have gone, but she knew without a doubt that it would not be a pretty sight. Jex had well and truly crossed a line.

"No," the Doctor growled, and suddenly he lunged at Jex, looking furious as he crossed the room in two fast strides and grabbed Jex by the front of his shirt, "No!" he dragged Jex up off the chair, "But these people are!" he forcefully shoved Jex towards the door, Isaac moving to stop him but Rory pulled him back, "Out!" he shouted, pushing him along ahead of him, "Out! Out!"

Astra began crying, upset at the sight and sound of her father shouting, never having been exposed to him that angry before. The Hatter winced and tried to sooth her as she hurried after the Doctor and Jex as they stepped outside, lightly rocking Astra and humming a gentle Gallifreyan lullaby, but she knew already that there was little that she could do to sooth Astra right now, not when she could no doubt sense how angry her parents were, the Doctor was positively furious right now.

The Doctor continued to force Jex along down the main street of the town, kicking up a cloud of dust as Jex struggled and tried to dig his heels in to the dirt, but the Doctor was relentless, pushing and shoving him along, "MOVE!" he snarled, grabbing the back of Jex's waistcoat and forcing him to keep moving ahead of him, all of the shouting drawing the towns people's attention.

"No!" Jex gasped out, looking, for the first time, truly afraid as he struggled against the Doctor.

"Go on!" he pushed him on, not stopping or hesitating for a second, his expression hard and filled with anger.

The Hatter followed a few paces behind them, still trying to sooth Astra as she jogged to keep up; starting to grow quite worried about just what the Doctor might do next…and what she might let him do. Usually, they could count on one another to keep each other in check, to remind each other of their moral code, but this time…the Hatter wasn't sure what she might be willing to overlook just simply because of her own anger and disgust at Jex's crimes. He deserved to be punished and she could certainly understand the Gunslingers view now that she knew the truth, but would she actually allow the Doctor to be the one to serve out Jex's punishment? Could she? The horrible answer was that yes, after having witnessed what he had done to those innocent people, she could easily stand by and not lift a finger to save Jex from his own fate, but could her morals and ethics truly stand to let her do that? She supposed she was about to find out.

The Doctor pushed and shoved Jex all the way down the street to the town border, while behind them the locals began hurrying out of their homes and business to see what was happening, Isaac, Amy, and Rory in the lead. The Doctor finally reached the line and pushed Jex over the line, the man landing heavily in the dirt, but the Doctor wasn't finished yet as he whirled around and suddenly grabbed a gun out of a man's holster, who had been too busy staring at Jex to even notice, spinning back around to aim the weapon directly at Jex's head, stopping him from crossing back over the line, quickly holding his hands up.

Amy gasped loudly, while the Hatter swallowed nervously and took a small step forward, placing her hand on the back of Astra's head to stop her from turning around to see, the baby still crying. This was not what she ever wanted her daughter to witness, her father holding a gun at a man's head, no matter who the man might be or what he had done, that was not the example that she wanted for her daughter and if the Doctor wasn't so filled with anger right now, he wouldn't wish for Astra to see this either.

"Doctor," she said slowly and calmly, her eyes flickering between the Doctor and the gun, "Think this through, sweetheart".

Jex stared back at the Doctor, looking quite fearful, "You wouldn't," he said, but his voice shook very slightly.

The Time Lady sighed heavily in exasperation, "I think it would be better if you stop talking…" she gave Jex a cold look, "Forever, preferably," the Doctor didn't even blink, cocking the gun, making her groan loudly, "I didn't mean it like that, Doctor!" she exclaimed.

The Doctor didn't lower the gun; he only had eyes for Jex, "To keep my wife and daughter safe…" he glared back at the man, "There isn't anything I wouldn't do".

"Doctor," Isaac stepped forward to stand beside the Hatter, giving him a stern look, "Doctor…"

The Doctor turned with the gun still raised, causing almost everyone to gasp and duck, save for the Hatter, who could only shake her head. There was no way in hell that the Doctor would shoot someone who was standing right beside her and Astra, even with the Doctor's excellent aim, he wouldn't risk it, he was more likely to have just forgotten that he was holding the gun when he turned. But she didn't even have a chance to reassure the towns people that he wasn't about to shoot Isaac before a gunshot rang out in the air and she jumped, clutching Astra tighter, looking behind her to see that Amy had managed to get her hands on a gun, too, and had apparently fired it into the air.

Amy lowered the gun and aimed it on the Doctor, who lowered his own, staring back at her in alarm, "Let him come back, Doctor," she demanded.

"Amy!" the Hatter stared at her, looking quite shocked to see her actually pointing a gun at the Doctor.

"Or what?" the Doctor asked, scoffing slightly, "You won't shoot me, Amy".

"How do you know?" Amy raised her eyebrows, actually cocking the gun, "Maybe I've changed. I mean, you've clearly been taking stupid lessons since I saw you last…" suddenly, as she was waving the gun around, it went off and everyone ducked. She quickly held her hands up, her eyes widening slightly as the Hatter flinched, "I didn't mean to do that!" she accidently fired it again, into the ground.

"Okay," Isaac cut in, while the towns people all stepped away from Amy, even Rory looked as though he wanted to move away from her, "Everyone who isn't an American…" he turned and pointed sternly at Amy, "Drop your gun".

"Second that," the Hatter nodded quickly, giving Amy a frown until she carefully placed the gun down on the ground by her feet. She shook her head and turned back towards the Doctor, "Now you, Doctor," she said firmly, "Get rid of that absurd gun, you're not going to shoot anyone".

The Doctor looked torn for a moment, throwing Jex a glance before he moved closer to the Time Lady, mindful to keep the gun pointed down at the ground, "Hatter, we could end this right now," he told her, looking earnestly into her face, "We could save everyone _right now_ ".

"And at what cost?" she raised her eyebrows, "Murder? Is that truly the example that you wish to set for our daughter…" he blinked at that, actually looking quite startled as his eyes fell onto Astra in her arms, her back turned to him, her cries having lessoned at last. The Time Lady's face softened, watching the horrified expression cross his face, staring at his child. She hadn't been completely certain what she might do, but Amy was right, this whole situation simply wasn't them; they were acting like angry fools and allowing their own feelings from the past to blind them in the moment. It had to end, "Sweetheart, murder has never been our style; it's never even _been_ an option in my mind, so why start today? This is wrong."

He swallowed, dragging his eyes away from Astra and back up to her face, "But…Jex _has_ to answer for his crimes," he said, but his voice sounded less confidant then before.

"And what then?" Amy called, crossing her arms across her chest as the Doctor's head snapped over to her, "Are you going to hunt down everyone who's made a gun or a bullet, or a bomb?"

"Including me?" the Hatter remarked lightly, her eyebrows still raised.

The Doctor's eyes widened as he quickly turned back to her, "No!" he exclaimed, looking positively stunned that she would even suggest such a thing, "Hatter, it's different…"

"The only difference is that I am your wife and I regret my actions during the Time War, I am not proud of them like Jex is, but I still built weapons that I knew would harm. I still gave you the Moment, knowing perfectly well what it would do. You can not excuse my actions in the Time War and yet vilify another, Doctor".

"That's not…" he began before he shook his head, looking at her almost pleadingly to understand, "Hatter, they keep coming back, don't you see? Every time we negotiate, we try to understand. Well, not today! No! Today, I honour the victims first. His…" he pointed back towards Jex, "The Master's, the Daleks, all the people who died because of _our_ mercy!"

The Hatter sighed heavily, she had to admit that she could understand where he was coming from, it seemed as though people only kept getting hurt or dying because they had allowed someone that they knew to be dangerous to get away, to keep hurting others, because they refused to sink to that same level and commit murder. But that was what made them _different_ from the Master and the Daleks, that was what made them better than them because they refused to become like them, to take the possibly easier option and simply kill. If they didn't hold themselves to a higher standard, then they would be no better than them and, the Hatter felt for certain, that the Universe would be a sadder place for it.

"But we can't be like him, Doctor!" Amy frowned at him, nodding over towards Jex as the Doctor looked back over to her. She meet his eyes firmly, "We have to be _better_ than him".

The Hatter smiled proudly at Amy, "It's as if you read my mind, Amy," she commented, Amy really had learnt a lot while travelling with them. She looked back to the Doctor, "There is always another option, it might not be easy and it might not always work, but anything is better than _more_ killing".

The Doctor sighed, his eyes flickering between Amy and the Hatter, before he nodded slowly, "Fine, fine…" he scrunched up his face slightly, still looking a little reluctant, while the Hatter and Amy exchanged a quick smile. He turned away and began to walk back over to the boarder, "We'll think of something else. But…" he paused, glancing back over his shoulder to them, "Frankly, I'm betting on the Gunslingers".

"Then we shall have to prove you wrong," the Time Lady said lightly, giving him a little smile and happily shifting Astra in her arms so that she could see what was going on. She gave him a little wink, "You ought to be used to that by now, anyway".

He stuck his tongue out at her, making her laugh, before he continued towards the line, passing one of the towns people the gun as he passed him, but their good humour faded a moment later, catching sight of something in the distance behind Jex. He slowly waved Jex closer, his eyes fixed over his shoulder, "Jex," he said quietly, "Move over the line. _Now_ ".

The Hatter watched nervously, hugging Astra tighter to her chest as behind Jex, in the distance, the Gunslinger began to teleport closer and closer, appearing and disappearing again in a cloud of dust. Jex didn't move, visibly swallowing, when the Gunslinger disappeared again and reappeared right behind him with his gun aimed directly at the back of his head. Slowly, he began to turn around to face the cyborg .

"Make peace with your gods," the Gunslinger told him, his voice very deep.

"Kahler-Tek, isn't it?" Jex asked softly, staring up at the cyborg, "I remember all your names, even now. Please, I'll _never_ hurt anyone again. I'm even helping people here".

"Last chance," he warned, his expression hard, "Make peace with your gods…" his gun began to whirr, powering up as the Hatter tried to shield Astra from the sight…

"No!" Isaac shouted, just as he ran forward and pushed Jex out of the way, taking the blast instead. He stumbled and collapsed on his back, groaning painfully as he clutched at his chest.

The Doctor ran over to him as Astra began crying loudly again, the Hatter trying to comfort her while also watch what was happening with Isaac, her eyes wide, "Isaac!" the Doctor fell onto his knees beside the man, lifting his head up out of the dust, "Isaac, Isaac!" he called frantically, just trying to keep him awake, "It's okay, it's okay. We can get you to Jex's surgery. He can save you…"

Isaac grabbed his hand; pain written across his face, "Listen to me," he managed to get out, looking up into the Doctor's face, "You've got to stay. You've got to look after everyone".

"It won't come to that, Isaac".

"Protect Jex," he winced, shaking with pain as the Hatter closed her eyes tightly, "Protect my town…" he struggled for a moment, seeming to be finding it hard to keep talking, "You're both good men, you just…forget it sometimes…" he released a sharp breath and his eyes slipped closed, his body going limp as he died.

The Hatter shook her head sadly, cradling Astra's head against her cheek as the baby's cries turning into little whimpers. She watched as the Doctor slowly pulled his hand out of Isaac's to reveal that he had slipped him his Marshal's badge, staring down at it for a long moment before he clipped it onto the lapel of his blazer and climbed onto his feet. He met her eyes for a moment and they exchanged a grim look, before he turned to face the shocked looking town's people.

"Take Jex to his cell," he ordered them, holding up a warning finger, "If anything happens to him, you'll have me to answer to," he told them sharply, before turning back around to face the Gunslinger, who was still standing before the town line, looking down at Isaac's body.

The Hatter swallowed hard at the sight of Isaac, he had been a good man and his death should never have happened, now all they could do was try and honour his dying wish and help protect his town, but that would be made a lot easier if the Gunslinger wasn't a threat. She stepped up beside the Doctor as several men from the group of locals moved to escort Jex back to the jail, lightly bouncing Astra in her arms, relieved that she had stopped crying.

"I think we can all agree that this needs to end," she said to the Gunslinger, keeping her voice low, not wishing the rest of the remaining town's people to hear.

"You are right," the Gunslinger agreed. He turned and began to walk away, the Doctor and the Hatter exchanging a quick, slightly confused look, feeling as though it was too easy…when he suddenly stopped and turned back around, lifting his gun again and pointing it at them. The Time Lords froze, the Hatter desperately wishing she had asked Amy or Rory to hold Astra for her before approaching the Gunslinger, "You've got until noon tomorrow," he told them, "Give him to me or I'll kill you all".

And with that, he turned and teleported away.

The Hatter released a shaky breath and looked at the Doctor, who moved closer to her, reaching out to push a piece of hair behind her ear before dropping a kiss on top of Astra's head, ignoring her hat. Astra, funnily enough, appeared to be quite happy again, eagerly reaching out to try and touch the badge pinned to the Doctor's lapel and gurgling happily about how shinny and pretty it was. At least Astra hadn't been scarred for life, that was one good thing that had happened.

"Oh, my God," Amy said suddenly, making the Time Lords turn back towards her, finding her staring at the Doctor, "You're the Marshal".

"Yeah," the Doctor broke into a grin, wrapping his arm around the Hatter's waist, "And met my Deputy".

The Hatter smiled, "Ooh, never been a Deputy before," she remarked, actually looking quite excited.

…

Night had fallen and the Hatter was quite pleased to have finally managed to get Astra to fall asleep after giving her a bottle and the Doctor had told her a short story, the baby snuggled beneath her favourite pink blanket in her pram, sucking on her fist in her sleep. Jex was sitting in his cell, thankfully having remained completely silent the entire time, but it didn't stop him from watching them through the bars of the cell, the Doctor eyeing him with a frown as he sat on a chair just outside the door, while the Time Lady leaned against the wall beside the chair, her arms crossed across her chest. Amy and Rory were sitting at the desk, Astra's pram beside them, as far away as possible from Jex. Suddenly, a knock sounded on the door.

The Hatter winced at the noise, but Astra was used to sleeping with noise in the background, so she wasn't overly worried about her being disturbed. Even still, she thought it would be wise to go and open the door herself, rather than call out to the person to come in, "Oh…" she blinked in mild surprise as she swung the door open wider, finding the preacher standing on the veranda, "Hello".

The man stepped over the threshold and the Time Lady stepped aside, taking his hat off, "Deputy," he nodded to the Hatter, before glancing over to the Doctor, "Marshal…" he looked over to Amy and Rory, nodding to them in turn, "Ma'am," he hesitated as he looked at Rory, not seeming to know what to refer to him as, "…fella," he turned back towards the Doctor, while Rory shook his head in exasperation, "You need to come outside".

"Why?" the Doctor frowned, "What's wrong?"

"Just…come outside," he said grimly, gesturing with his hat towards the door. The Doctor glanced at the Hatter, who could only shrug, just as clueless as him as he stood and moved closer to the man, "And…" the preacher stopped him, "You should put that on".

The Doctor followed his gaze to see him nodding to the holster with a gun in it hanging on a hook on the wall by the door. He reluctantly reached for it and began to strap it on, not overly keen on wearing it in the first place, but it was only for show. Once he had it on, he reached out and took the Hatter's hand, following the preacher outside onto the veranda with Rory and Amy following close behind them, leaving the door open so that they could hear if Astra woke up. They soon saw what the problem was, a large group of the town's people had gathered outside the front of the office, mostly made up of men. He eyed them closely, looping his left thumb through his belt.

"What's going on?" he asked curiously.

One of the younger men of the group hesitated, glancing back to the men around him before taking a step forward, "He in there?" he moved to stand at the end of the veranda, right where a smaller group of women, including the bartender, stood. He shifted nervously on the spot, "Leave the keys and take a walk. By the time you get back, this'll all be done".

"We can't do that," the Hatter shook her head firmly, not surprised. She should have known that the locals would try something like this, "When Isaac died, it was his final wish that we protect Jex and personally, I am a big believer in respecting someone's final wishes".

"Protecting him got Isaac dead," he argued, seeming to be gaining in confidants, "Tomorrow, it's going to be us all dead".

"We thought Isaac was right to fight," a second man said, moving to stand beside the younger man, "But it's different now," the Doctor and the Hatter walked forward, stopping at the end of the veranda, "We've got to say, 'All right, we lost,' and give that thing what it wants".

"What it wants is to kill our friend," the bartended cut in, her hands on her hips.

"We don't got any ill feeling towards the Doc," the youngest man said, looking back up to the Doctor and the Hatter, "We just thinking about our families," he held out a hand towards the Time Lords, "You'd understand that…" the Doctor and the Hatter exchanged a quick look, not pleased that he was trying to use their own daughter to argue his case as he continued, "Hand him over and we all safe again".

The Doctor shook his head, "You know we can't do that," he said firmly.

"We got us a problem," he pushed his coat back, revealing his holster strapped to his side, his threat very clear.

The Hatter sighed heavily, "This is absurd…" she muttered. She didn't believe that the man…boy, really, was going to shoot anyone, she could see his fingers trembling very slightly even from all the way over here. She wouldn't be surprised if he had never even held a gun before.

The Doctor let go of the Time Lady's hand and pulled back his own blazer, showing his own holster, a few of the men stepped back, eyeing him closely as he took a step forward, his eyes on the young man, "Please don't do this," he said quietly, truly unsure just what might happen next. He wasn't about to take any chances with the Hatter standing right beside him.

"Why?" the young man asked nervously, resting his hand on the top of his gun, "Reckon you're quicker than me?"

"Oh, certainly not, but this? Lynch mobs? A town turning against itself? This is everything Isaac didn't want".

The young man drew his pistol, aiming it at the Doctor, his hand positioned ready to cock it.

The Hatter took a small, slow step forward with her hands raised, not wishing to startle him and end up accidently getting shot. She ignored the sharp look the Doctor gave her, her eyes fixed on the young man, "Careful with that," she nodded to the gun in his hands, "I would rather my daughter grow up with her mother in her life. Tell me…how old are you?"

He licked his lips, "Nearly nineteen".

She smiled, suddenly looking amused, "Ah, so you're _eighteen_ , then," she nodded, "You wouldn't have fought in the war, you would have been too young, right?" she eyed him closely when he looked away from her briefly, "This is the first time you've ever held a gun before, isn't it? Let alone actually fired it at someone".

He cocked the gun, trying hard to look brave, "First time for everything".

"But that's how all this started," the Doctor remarked, carefully moving to stand beside the Hatter, his gun still clearly visible, but he hadn't made any move to reach for it yet, but he was very, very close to doing so, seeing that gun being aimed so close to the Hatter's direction, "Jex turned someone into a weapon," he continued, edging closer towards the young man, "Now that same story's going to make you a killer, too. Don't you see? Violence doesn't end violence, it extends it, and I don't think you want to do this. I don't think you want to become that man".

"There's kids here, _you're_ kid is here…"

"I know, trust me," he said softly, swallowing hard at the mention of Astra, and he didn't need to glance at the Hatter to know that she had the same reaction, "But we can save them, all of them, if you'll let us," he stared back at the man's face, his expression completely honest, not blinking.

"He really worth the risk?" he nodded over towards the Marshal's Office.

"Don't know. But _you_ are".

For a long moment, the Hatter barely dared to breathe, just hoping that the Doctor's words had sunk through and made him think, when he licked his lips and slowly lowered the weapon. He slipped it back into his holster and glanced at the men who had joined him, nodding to them to follow him as he turned and began to walk away. The small group of women watched them go for a moment before also turning to walk away, and the Hatter sighed in relief and glanced at the Doctor.

"Blimey," she murmured to him, angry humans could be so dangerous and unpredictable; anything could happen when dealing with them. Thankfully, this lot had actually been willing to listen, but it didn't always go down that easily. She had been ready to push the Doctor out of the way of any bullets should things have really gone downhill.

The Doctor caught her eye and gave a dramatic shudder that made her smile, "Frightened people," he remarked, wrapping his arm around her waist and pressing a kiss to her cheek, "Give me a Dalek any day".

The Hatter laughed and shook her head fondly as they turned, heading back into the Marshals Office, while Amy and Rory remained outside to make sure that the locals didn't try anything again. The moment they stepped into the office, the Time Lady was moving across to Astra's pram and peering inside, smiling gently as she watched Astra sleep peacefully, completely unaware to what had happened, for which she was grateful. She already feared that she had been exposed to more than enough for one adventure and it was far from over yet. She reached into the pram and carefully adjusted the blanket before looking back up again to see the Doctor taking off the holster and hanging it up on the hook again, just as the town undertaker emerged from one of the back rooms, carrying a cup, steam swirling into the air from it. What was it with undertakers and just suddenly appearing like that?

"Fresh coffee, Marshal," the man said to the Doctor, who looked up in surprise, not having noticed him enter. He slowly reached out and took the cup, giving the man an awkward little toast, while the Hatter shook her head in amusement, "For what it's worth, I know you're going to save us," he leaned in closer to the Doctor, who sat the cup down on top of the wooden railing he was standing before, looking a little uncomfortable with how close the undertaking was to him, "Isaac made you Marshal for a reason, and if you're good enough for him, you're good enough for me. Reckon you should know that".

The Doctor nodded slowly and picked up his cup, toasting it to the man, "Thank you," he took a sip from the cup and lowered it again, sitting the cup on the railing and bracing his hands against the railing, not noticing that while he had been drinking, the undertaker had moved behind him and was trying to measure his shoulders again.

The Hatter struggled to hold back a laugh, clearing her throat, "Um, sweetheart?" she gave the undertaker a pointed look.

He blinked and looked out of the corner of his eye, before turning his head properly to see the undertaker holding the measuring tape across his shoulders, "Oi!" he gave the man an exasperated look, "Get out of it!"

The undertaker stepped back and started rolling the tape backup, looking a little disgruntled as he slipped outside the front door. The Hatter caught the Doctor's eye and couldn't help laughing softly, walking over to join him by the railing, reaching up to take his Stetson off so she could ruffle his hair affectionately, knowing quite well how much he enjoyed it when she did that.

"Got a headache yet?" she asked quietly, very aware of the fact that Jex was only two meters away from them right now.

His eyes closed briefly at the sensation of her fingers lightly brushing against his scalp, "Not if you keep doing that, dear".

"Let me guess," Jex voice sounded, ruining the moment. The Doctor groaned very slightly and ducked his head, while the Hatter gave him a sharp look, positive she had heard him mutter a Gallifreyan curse word under his breath, "The good folk of Mercy wanted me to take a little stroll into the desert," he went on, speaking quite casually about the whole thing, "You could turn a blind eye. No one would blame you. You'd be a hero".

"But I can't, can I?" he spun around to face Jex, who was standing with one hand bracing himself against the wall of his cell, while the Hatter sighed and perched herself on the railing, lightly swinging her feet just above the floor. He walked closer to the cell, "Because then Isaac's death would mean _nothing_. Just another casualty in your endless bloody war! And that's to say nothing about the example I would be setting for my daughter!" he came to a stop in front of the bars, frowning at Jex as he huffed and threw himself onto his cot, looking up at the ceiling, "Do you want us to hand you over? Is that what you want?" he demanded, his voice rising as he threw his hands up into the air and turned away, "Do you even _know_?"

"Doctor," the Hatter sighed, hopping off the railing and moving to his side, reaching out to take his hand, squeezing it. At this rate, not even Astra was going to be able to keep on sleeping with all this shouting going on around her. Not that she blamed him for shouting, she knew that he was frustrated and angry, she felt the same way, but they just had to try and keep a cool head, otherwise they would never figure out how to fix this mess and keep the town safe without breaking Isaac's final wish. There had to be a way, there was always a solution.

"You think I'm unaffected by what I did?" Jex called out, still staring up at the ceiling above his cot, "That I don't hear them _screaming_ every time I close my eyes?" he sat up, leaning against his elbow to glare out through the bares to them, "It would be so much simpler if I was just one thing, wouldn't it? The mad scientist who made that killing machine, or the physician who's dedicated his life to serving this town. The fact that I'm both bewilders you".

The Time Lady scoffed at that, unable to help herself as she looked back over to the cell, "Oh, please, enough with the selfless, good Samaritan act," she let go of the Doctor's hand and walked closer to the cell, curling her fingers around the metal work, "Let us not pretend as though we all don't know the real reason for why you help the people of this town and it is not nearly as selfless as you would like it to seem, you do it because this is your self-inflected punishment for the vile crimes that you committed…" Jex looked positively shocked before he quickly fell back onto his cot, staring up at the ceiling again, avoiding looking at her. The Time Lady didn't care, though, she knew he was listening to ever word, "Trust me, I know what that looks like, to be honest I'm shocked I didn't realise it the second I saw you. Personally, as far as attempting to repent yourself for your sins, I think you made a good choice, if misguided, because none of this is justice for your crimes, Jex. It is not up to you to decide when you are forgiven".

She let go of the bars, her fingers feeling slightly sore from having grasped them so hard that her knuckles had turned white, feeling slightly breathless as she turned around to face the Doctor. He was looking at her in surprise and admiration, holding out his hand towards her, which she took with a slightly shaky hand of her own. She simply hadn't been able to stop herself once she had begun talking and she still felt as though she could easily keep going, but she didn't regret a single thing she had said because it was the truth, in her eyes, and to make matters worse, because of this whole mess, her daughter was being placed under threat, just like all the other innocent children who lived in this town. It was all just too much.

"In my culture," Jex said after a long moment of silence stretched on, "We believe that when you die your spirit has to climb a mountain carrying the souls of everyone you wronged in your lifetime. Imagine the weight I will have to lift," the Doctor and the Hatter turned back around to face him, finding that he was now sitting up on the edge of his cot. He actually looked remorseful as he continued, "The monsters I created, the people they killed. Isaac…" he climbed onto his feet, stepping closer to the bars of his cell, "He was my friend. Now his soul will be in my arms, too. Can you see now why I fear death?" he stared back at them as they exchanged a look, "You want to hand me over. There's no shame in that. But you won't…" his eyes flickered between them, "We all carry our prisons with us. Mine is my past," he turned away and walked back over to his cot, "Yours is your morality," he laid back down, resting his hands on top of his chest.

The Hatter blinked slowly, her head snapping back to the Doctor, who met her eyes, both seeming to have come to the same conclusion.

"'We all carry our prisons with us,'" he repeated, "Ha!"

…

The next morning, right before noon, the Doctor and the Hatter stepped outside in front of the bank and into the middle of the main street, which was completely deserted. The sun was very hot and bright above them as they stood side by side, holding hands, their hats shielding their faces from the glare of the sun. Astra was with Amy, who was getting ready to play her role with Jex back at the Marshal's Office, hopefully both well out of danger, if the plan worked as it was supposed to.

The Hatter swallowed nervously, trying hard not to think about what might happen if their plan went wrong as she glanced behind her to the large clock on the small tower of the bank, less than a minute left…she quickly looked back down the main road to the borderline, just in time to see the Gunslinger appear in the distance, stopping right at the line. She could literally feel the seconds ticking by at the back of her mind, knowing that there was no way that they could try and come up with another plan if this one went wrong, when the clock behind them finally chimed noon. In the distance, the Gunslinger stepped over the town line and began walking down the long dirt road towards them, the Time Lords exchanging a quick look.

"It's not too late…" the Doctor began, really not liking the idea of the Hatter staying with him for this.

"Yeah, it is," the Hatter cut across him calmly, while her hearts pounded in her chest and she threw the Marshal's Office a quick look, just hoping this would work. She gave the Doctor a gentle, reassuring smile, "Just stick to the plan, sweetheart".

He sighed loudly, still not pleased, but if anyone knew better than anyone else, his wife was incredibly stubborn and once she set her mind to something, she wouldn't change her mind. So they remained where they stood, side by side, looking off down the road as the Gunslinger neared, finally coming to a stop several feet away from them, while the clock continued to chime behind them.

The Doctor's fingers twitched towards the holster strapped to his side as they stared at the Gunslinger, waiting…the bell stopped and the moment it did, the Gunslinger raised his gun, but the Doctor was ready for him, pulling his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and holding it up into the air, activating it. A horrible, high-pitched sound filled the air around them, making the cyborg groan loudly in pain as windows shattered, but he managed to fire off a shot, but it was so poorly aimed that it didn't even come close to hitting either of them. Even still, it was a sure sign that it was time for them to go.

They ducked, cringing against the noise and shattering glass surrounding them, and took off sprinting, while the Gunslinger's gun went off again, destroying the town clock, but they didn't let that stop them from making a break for the saloon for their next part of the plan to be put into action, hopefully the Gunslinger would be distracted long enough by several of the town's men and Rory, running around with their faces painted with the same mark that Jex had on his cheek, to notice that Jex wasn't amongst them.

The Time Lords reached the saloon and burst into the empty room, the bartended having been told to hide herself away while everything went on with the hopeful assurance that her bar wouldn't end up being destroyed, leaving the same coloured green paint that they had used on Rory and the other men sitting on the bar. The Doctor quickly sat down at the bar as the Hatter grabbed the paint, unscrewing the lid hurriedly and dipping the small tip of the paintbrush into the paint, biting her lip as she took the Doctor's chin between her thumb and index finger on her right hand.

"I can't believe you want me, of all people, to pain your face," she muttered as she carefully began to trace the curved mark along the top of his left eyebrow, scrunching her nose up in concentration, "You know how dreadful I am at art".

The Doctor gave her a mock pout, "But then I would have missed out on seeing you're adorable focused face," he teased quietly, "You scrunch up your nose and stick out your tongue…"

She lightly kicked his foot, still trying to get the curve right, "Stop pouting," she said softly, even though she could feel her cheeks warming, automatically leaning in closer to his face to paint, "This is hard enough without you pulling faces".

She was just starting to get a feel for painting on a living canvas, feeling quite proud of herself that she had managed to do the first upper curve of Jex's mark without screwing it up badly, when the sound of an explosion went off somewhere outside, making them both jump and spin towards the saloon door, the sound of people screaming sounding a moment later.

"Oh, no!" she gasped, horrified, "The Gunslinger must have found the church!" which was very, very bad, considering half the town were hiding in there.

The Doctor leaped up from the chair and the Hatter followed, having enough time to think of grabbing the paint and brush, shoving them into her jacket pocket as she hurried after him, both taking off running for the door, throwing them open as they dashed out onto the street, but as they began to move to head for the church, they caught sight of Jex standing ahead of them in the middle of the road, looking torn between escaping and going to the aid of the screams.

"Go!" the Doctor shouted over to him, pointing at him, "Just go! We can't save them while you're here!"

They took off running again for the church, the Hatter looking back over her shoulder to make sure that Jex had actually listened to them and continued heading back to his ship. They stopped just a building away from the church, catching sight of the Gunslinger emerging from within the destroyed wall of the church, and the Hatter quickly pushed the Doctor up against the wall of the building, working quickly to finish painting her rather crude imitation of Jex's mark. It was far from perfect, in fact she would be amazed if it even distracted the Gunslinger, but hopefully it would draw his attention enough.

"Ready to run, sweetheart?" she asked him as she quickly stuck the paintbrush and paint back into her pocket, not caring about probably staining the inside of her pocket.

"When aren't I, dear?" he replied with a grin, giving her a little wink. He grabbed her hand and the two of them dashed out, running out into the Gunslinger's line of sight.

The Gunslinger trained his weapon on them, ready to fire as they kept running across to the other side of the street, the Doctor and the Hatter dashing between two buildings and stopping right at the corner of the saloon, pressing their backs against the wooden wall, listening closely as the sound of the Gunslinger's heavy boots clanged closer.

"Deactivate automatic targeting," they heard him say after a moment, "Switch to manual," his footsteps sounded of the wooden flooring of the saloon veranda, growing louder as he moved closer. The Doctor began to peer around the corner, only to find the Gunslinger standing right there, instantly aiming his gun directly at his face.

The Hatter sighed slightly, wincing as she slowly raised her hands in surrender, "Perhaps this wasn't the best hiding spot after all…" she muttered as she and the Doctor carefully stepped out in front of the cyborg, eyeing him closely.

"Where is he?" the Gunslinger demanded, his one non-robotic eye moving between them.

"He's gone," the Doctor told him.

"WHERE?" he shouted, advancing on them until they were forced to jump down onto the dirt road, backing away from him, "ANWSER ME?"

"I'm sorry, but it's too late!" the Hatter said hurriedly, very dearly hoping she wouldn't accidently trip over her own feet right now, "Jex will already be back to his ship by now, soon he'll be off this planet and far away. This place…" she waved a hand around the town, "People _live_ here, they have lives and _children_ who live here, it is not a battle ground for you to seek out your revenge!"

"Lookup!" the Doctor urged him, pointing up towards the sky, still backing away from the ever advancing Gunslinger, "Go after Jex, take this battle away from…" he was cut off by the sudden squeal of feedback in the air, making them blink and look around, the Time Lords exchanging an alarmed look.

"Kahler-Tek!" Jex's voice sounded over the electrics, "Kehler-Tek".

"What is he doing?" the Hatter groaned, closing her eyes in exasperation. This wasn't the plan! Jex was supposed to fly away and hopefully draw the Gunslinger away from the town, not antagonise the Gunslinger more.

"Jex!" the Gunslinger growled, looking around on the spot, "Coward! Where are you?"

"I'm in my ship".

"Jex!" the Doctor called, ducking just in time to avoid getting hit by the Gunslinger's gun as the cyborg turned around on the spot, "What are you doing? Just _go_!"

"Where are you from?" Jex asked, ignoring the Doctor, "Where on Kahler?"

" _Now_?" he shook his head in disbelief, holding his hands up in frustration, "You're asking this _now_?"

The Hatter gasped suddenly, her eyes widening in horror as something hit her. She grabbed the Doctor's arm, making him stop, but she wasn't looking at him.

"Gabriah," the Gunslinger told Jex loudly.

"I know it," Jex remarked, "It's beautiful there. When this is over, will you go back?"

"How can I? I am a monster now".

"So am I".

"Jex, you don't have to do this!" the Hatter shook her head, a note of urgency in her tone, "You can still change your mind, fly away from here. We can help you!"

"I thank you, Hatter, truly I do, but we both know that this is the right thing to do".

She sighed at that, closing her eyes as she ducked her head sadly as the Doctor looked at her in confusion and concern, feeling as though he was missing something important. She couldn't deny that if she was in his shoes, she would do the same thing to make sure that no one else ever suffered again, but even still, she couldn't not try.

"I will find you!" the Gunslinger warned Jex, "If I have to tear this Universe apart, I _will_ find you".

"I don't doubt that," Jex said grimly, sighing, "You'll chase me to another planet and another race will be caught in the cross-fire".

"THEN FACE ME!"

There was a brief moment of silence, before…, "Countdown to self-destruct resumed," a female, computerised voice announced, sounding slightly distant.

The Doctor's eyes widened and his head snapped around to the Hatter, who met his eyes sadly. He understood now what the Hatter had figured out before; he now knew what Jex was planning to do…

"FACE ME!"

"No!" Jex said firmly, "You've killed enough. I'm ending the war for you, too".

"Countdown to self-destruct resumed," the computer repeated, sounding clearer now, "Ten, nine, eight, seven…"

"Thank you, Doctor, Hatter," Jex called over the countdown, while the Doctor and the Hatter took each other's hands, "I have to face the souls of those I've wronged!"

"…five…"

His voice grew softer, "Perhaps they will be kind".

"…three, two, one, zero".

In the distance, a loud explosion went off in the middle of the desert, the sound echoing back to the town as they all turned to see black smoke and flames drifting up into the air, appearing above the roof tops of the town. The Hatter released a long, slow breath, her expression grave. She had wanted to see Jex face justice for all the pain he had caused to those people, but this…this felt like it to her, Jex had died doing the right thing and in the end, he helped prevent more pain and hurt.

The Gunslinger watched the smoke rise into the air for a long moment, before slowly bowing his head, "He behaved with honour in the end," he said after a moment of silence, "Maybe more than me".

"We could take you back to your world," the Doctor told him, watching him closely. But the Gunslinger simply turned and began to walk away, not glancing at them, "You could help with the reconstruction!" he tried as he and the Hatter moved to follow after him, just as the town's people slowly began to drift out of their homes.

"I will walk into the desert and self-destruct. I'm a creature of war. I have no role to play during peace".

The Hatter raised her eyebrows at his back, just as Amy and Rory joined them, Astra happily trying to grab at Rory's nose as he held her, completely obvious to what had just happened, thankfully, "But what about protecting that peace?" she called after him, smiling as the Gunslinger slowly come to a stop, "You're not a monster, the very fact that you claim to be one tells me that," she took a step closer to him as he turned back to face her, "So why don't you do something to prove that to yourself, Gunslinger? Be the hero in the story".

He stared back at her for a long moment, considering it, before he gave her a tiny smile and turned to continue walking away. The Time Lady grinned broadly as the Doctor took her hand again, watching him go.

….

The Hatter smiled as she listened to Astra babble excitedly about how much fun the Wild West was, apparently quite eager for another adventure like the one they had today, she was even quite keen on the idea of getting a miniature Stetson hat like her father was wearing. The Time Lady simply nodded and hummed along with her, exchanging an amused look with the Doctor, Amy, and Rory as they finished getting a quick, cool drink from the saloon after all there troubles.

"Next time, my darling," she assured Astra the moment she had stopped talking to take a gulp of much needed air. Astra could talk like her father when she got excited, "But for now, I think it's time to leave the Wild West," she glanced at the Doctor, "The Universe has plenty more adventures in store for us".

The Doctor grinned broadly, his eyes lighting up as he quickly picked up his glass of milk and swallowed it one last mouthful, absently wiping his mouth of the back of his hand, "Come on, then!" he pushed his chair back and leaped onto his feet, giving the bartender a little cheerful wave as he passed by her.

The Hatter shook her head fondly at him and stood to sit Astra into her pram before moving to follow after him, Amy and Rory quickly hurrying to catch up. The Doctor reached the doors and threw them open, the TARIDS already sitting in the middle of the street, waiting for them.

"Okay, so, our next trip!" he clapped his hands eagerly at the thought, pausing to help the Time Lady get the pram down the small step without jostling Astra too much, "Oh!" he suddenly grinned and whirled around, pointing at Amy and Rory, "You know all those monkeys and dogs they sent into space in the fifties and sixties? You'll never guess what really happened to them," he reached the TARDIS and lightly kicked the door open.

"Erm…" Amy began slightly awkwardly, making the Time Lords pause and turn back towards the humans, "Could we leave it a while?" she asked them, "Our friends are going to start noticing that we're aging faster than them".

The Hatter gave them a smile, slightly amused by how awkward they both looked even asking such a thing, but she supposed that they probably hadn't always reacted the best in the past, even if they had tried to hide it. But they were happy that Amy and Rory had a life outside of the TARDIS, it was good for them, it was _human_.

"Of course," she nodded, looking quite cheerful, "We'll do it next time…" Astra grumbled something, making her smile softly as she turned back to the humans, "But Astra would like you both to know that she misses her Fire Hair and Squishy Face, so it had better not to be long".

Amy laughed and leaned down into the pram, lightly brushing Astra's cheek, "It won't be," she assured her, "How could we stay away from those chubby cheeks?"

Astra huffed and battered her hand away; making the Doctor make a suspicious coughing sound and the Hatter give her a mildly disapproving look, "Astra, don't be rude," the Time Lady scolded her lightly, shaking her head as she paused to give the locals that had gathered to see them off a friendly wave, even giving the young man who had almost got into a fight with them night before a little wink before pushing the pram into the TARDIS.

Amy and Rory gave them a wave, too, before following behind her. The Doctor, on the other hand, paused in the doorway, turning towards the young man and giving him a smile before slowly growing serious, both mockingly reaching towards their sides and pretending to draw a gun, the man giving a dramatic step back and grabbing at his chest as if he had been shot. The Doctor laughed as the man grinned back at him, reaching up to tap the brim of his hat towards the Doctor, who saluted him and turned to disappear into the TARDIS after the others, the time machine dematerialising a moment later, knowing that the town was safe and well protected.

 _ **And finished, onto 'The Power of Three' now! Important notice, for those of you who might have followed me on Polyvore, since the site has been taken over (I still can't be it!), I have now moved to a site called Shoplook. io under the same penname, so if you wish to follow me on there, please do.**_

 _ **Now, onto some exciting news…I have been accepted into nursing! I am officially a nursing student. It's one day a week, two days every two weeks, with most of the study and assignments done at home, so I tell you this now just so you can know that if I don't post as regularly as I have in the past, it's not because I've given up the story or anything, far from it, it will just be because of school commitments. Also, I'm going for my driving test next week, so fingers crossed for that.**_

 _ **Next chapter: wired black cubes, the Hatter looks like an evil scientist from a Disney movie, and our Time Lady has certain nickname for someone...I'm sorry about how long it took to finish this chapter off, but I hope you liked it. Tell me what you thought, please review :)**_

 _ **Guest reviews:**_

 _ **Doctor 13:**_ _ **Yep, so far, for me, 2018 has proven to be a very busy year for me, I miss being still in high school, this adulating stuff really isn't fun. Is it really? Yay, can't wait to see what they do with the new Doctor, I'm really looking forward to seeing how she gets her companions. Yes, I'd heard about that, actually, I think I also read that he wasn't supposed to have told anyone about that, either. I do recall hearing about his death on the news, how sad. Still, I always think about the life the person led and I would say that he would have had a pretty amazing one :)**_

 _ **Sam Fraser (1):**_ _ **Yes, exactly, the 1**_ _ **st**_ _ **Doctor could have moments in which he probably didn't listen to a woman as well as he likely would have to a man, but those moments were few, in my eyes, and he typically treated both his male and female companions in the same manner, I personally always did think that he treated Barbara with respect and did usually listen to her, it wasn't her fault that the 1**_ _ **st**_ _ **Doctor usually thought he was right and would do his own thing. The thing we need to remember, and I've said it a few times before now, is that the show was set in the early 60's and the writing, for its time, for women, really was quite good. Yes, there was some sexism, we could have done without all the screaming, but there was a lot less then what you would have found in other shows on the era.**_

 _ **Sam Fraser (2):**_ _ **I've seen it before, yes, but I've never read any of her stories. I have to admit, I don't read a lot of Fanfiction stories any more, I used to read loads of them every day, but I've become too picky with most of them, plus, I try not to read a lot of stories in fandoms that I've written a story in, so I'll sometimes find an Avengers or Lord of the Rings story to read when I'm really, really bored. Every now and again I'll browse through Doctor Who or Sherlock stories, just to see if any will catch my eye and sometimes, if I see a new OC story for Doctor Who that's just starting out, I'll take a peek and leave a little review, since I know how hard writing those first few chapters can be, but my issue is that I usually get to about chapter twenty or thirty and just stop reading, I don't know why, I'll binge read a story and I'll get to that point and just stop.**_

 _ **So, to answer your question, yes, I've seen the stories but I haven't read them, as far as I remember, anyway. If it was an OC Doctor Who story and published in 2012, there's a chance I might have read the first few chapters and just don't remember.**_

 _ **Hyperninja23:**_ _ **Yes, exactly this! I positively loved reading this review and I totally agree with you, thank you so much for taking the time express your thoughts on the subject :)**_

 _ **SpiderFan23:**_ _ **Yes, exactly. Doctor Who wasn't perfect, it had some questionable moments and lines, but when you compare it to other TV shows of the same era, it stands out amongst all the rest of them for how progressive the show was, which is why I still can't believe that they would think that it was okay to take the First Doctor and turn him into a sexist when that wasn't him at all. It's made even worse when you think about the fact that the Christmas episode was the first introduction of a female Doctor, there shouldn't have been anything sexist related, if anything it should have been the total opposite, like most of season ten had already been.**_

 _ **Sam Fraser (3):**_ _ **I don't really re-blog anything on my Tumblr, but I'd certainly be happy to see if I can find this post you're talking about, it sounds very interesting. I'm always curious to see how other fans of Classic Who found the First Doctor's portrayal in the Christmas Special, so thank you for the suggestion. I'll be sure to take a look and see if I can find it :)**_

 _ **Jay:**_ _ **I am so happy you like the stories and, if you're interested, I actually have written a one-shot of the Hatter meeting the Ninth Doctor and then making him forget, which is canon to these main stories. I know it's not the same as what you suggested and I would, hopefully, like to try and give writing your suggestions a try one day, when I get the time.**_

 _ **It's a part of my collection of one-shot that I really do need to update, now that I think about it, called 'Time and Space,' chapter 23. Like I said, I know it's not the same as you suggested, but if you haven't already read that story, you might enjoy it. Thank you so much for the suggestion, I'll have to put it on my list :)**_


	8. Chapter 8 The Power of Three, Part 1

_**The Power of Three, Part 1**_

Amy would have thought that after all these years travelling with the Doctor and the Hatter, disappearing for weeks and months on end, that she and Rory would have learnt by now to clean out their fridge before they took off in the TARDIS, but it was always something that seemed to totally slip their minds when they heard that wheezing noise. Of course, they could hardly tell the Doctor and the Hatter to wait while they quickly cleaned out anything that could go bad, the Hatter would probably laugh and wave them off, assuring them that they would have them back within the hour at the most…you would also have thought that they would have learnt by now that the Hatter was very rarely right about that, too. That one hour usually turned into three weeks, if they were lucky and the Time Lords didn't get too distracted to remember to take Amy and Rory home.

She couldn't help sighing as she stood there, staring into her fridge, slightly afraid of just what she might pull out from the chilled depths within after a whole two months of travelling with the Doctor and the Hatter, Astra spending half her time with them and the other half being looked after by one of the Time Lords other friends, when the Time Lords felt it wasn't safe enough for the baby. Rory was kneeling on the floor, shoving clothing into the washing machine from an open suitcase on the floor beside him.

"It's Lane's Opticians," a women's cheerful voice called over the answerer machine, just one message out of fifty nine that they had missed, "Just reminding you your reading glasses are ready for collection. Bye!"

Amy frowned at the fridge as the message ended with a beep, reaching out to grab a carton of milk, her eyes widening as she checked the date, "Milk two months out of date…" she pulled a face and dropped the carton into the bin by her legs, turning back to grab another circular carton out. She didn't even recognise getting that, "Yogurt…" she suddenly squealed in disgust, dropping it into the bin, shaking her head quickly, "Don't ask," she closed the fridge door, not feeling brave enough to continue right now…maybe it would be easier to just get a new fridge, now that she thought about it…

Rory didn't even blink, used to the routine by now as he finished shoving the clothes into the washing machine and closed the door, grabbing the box of washing tablets, only to find it empty, "We've run out of washing tablets," he sighed, tossing the box over his shoulder.

Amy groaned, they really should have learnt by now.

…

"We have two lives," Rory remarked as they sat outside in the garden, enjoying the sensation of the warm, afternoon sun shining down on them as they sipped their tea…their black tea, "Real life and TARDIS life," he reached out to grab his cup off the table between them, frowning slightly as he sat back, "Except _real_ life doesn't get much of a look in," he lifted his cup up his lips, taking a drink.

Amy looked off in to the distance for a moment, before looking across to him, "What do we do?"

He lowered his cup, swallowing his mouthful, "Choose?"

She sighed slightly and looked down, once upon a time the idea of choosing between a normal life and a life travelling time and space would have been something she would have shoved aside for later, but later was very quickly approaching herself and Rory, she saw it every time she caught her own reflection and was reminded that she wasn't in her early twenties any more. She was growing older, life was becoming more and more real, and sooner or later something was going to have to give, and she knew what it was. The Doctor and the Hatter knew it too, she didn't miss the sad little looks they would get on their faces when they thought no one was looking, or the way that the Hatter's smile grew less and less sincere each time they dropped them back home.

Suddenly, the sound of TARDIS engines sounded, making Amy and Rory sit up and look back over their shoulders, just in time to see the blue time machine materialising inside the kitchen.

Amy broke into a smile, shoving aside her thoughts for another time, "Not today, though," she looked back across to her husband.

"Nah," Rory shook his head, grinning, "Not today".

They left their cups on the table as they hurried back through the kitchen's open door to the TARDIS, eager to see the Time Lords again. Everything else could wait until later.

…

Amy groaned as an annoying pinging noise sounded throughout the house, having just been having a very pleasant dream, snuggled up in bed, before the noise had woken her.

"What the hell…?" Rory grumbled beside her, his voice sounding rough with sleep as he shoved the blankets off him, jostling her slightly as she slowly tossed the blanket off herself, still feeling half asleep.

Rory grabbed his dark blue dressing gown off the back of the bedroom door, tossing Amy her own pale pink one as they shrugged them on and staggered across to the window, yawning slightly as they pushed the curtain aside and opened the window, peering down over the window ledge to find Brian, of all people, standing on their doorstep below. Brian was a little eccentric at times, not quite as bad as _some_ people they knew, but still…it wasn't the most surprising thing that it would be him.

"Dad," Rory sighed, his hair mused and sticking up on odd angles, "It's half past six in the morning".

"What are you doing lying around?" Brian demanded, looking up to them, bright eyed, "Have you seen them?" he held up a black, perfectly sized cube-like object before turning around and holding out his arms.

Amy and Rory looked up over the rest of the street, only for their eyes widen as they found the street littered with the same funny little cubes, scattered all over the road and piled on top of cars, for as far as they could see, tiny black cubes were everywhere. Several of their neighbours were wondering around the street, looking around in equal confusion, there was even a police officer standing at the end of the street, appearing to be just as baffled as everyone else. Amy and Rory looked at each other and quickly hurried away from the window, hurrying downstairs and out the front door to join Brian on the street.

"What are they?" Rory frowned, looking around at all the cubes. They were everywhere, like it had been snowing black cubes.

"Nobody knows," his father shrugged, still holding one of the cubes, "They're everywhere".

"Well, where have they come from?" Amy asked, looking off down before glancing over towards the park, only to stop, staring at something that had caught her eye, "Wait…" she narrowed her eyes and walked a couple of steps towards the park on the other side of the street, looking at the back of a tall man wearing a tweed blazer, sitting on one of the swings, while on the other swing, a woman wearing bright pink tights and a pink and black hat was sitting, lightly swinging herself. There was no mistaking them, no one else would wear tweed or magenta coloured tights with yellow shoes, "Doctor!" she called, her tone growing stern as she put her hands on her hips, "Hatter!"

The Hatter stoped her swing by roughly dragging her heels against the ground, not seeming to care about the horrible jarring sensation before jumping off, "Well, fancy seeing you lot here," she grinned , moving to lean against the metal frame of the swing.

Amy and Rory glanced at each other, caught between exasperation with the Time Lady's little attempt at humour and happiness that they were here to fix whatever was going on with these odd little cubes. However, the fact that Astra wasn't with them was a worrying sign, they only separated themselves from their daughter if they truly feared something was too dangerous for Astra to accompany them.

"Invasion of the very small cubes," the Doctor remarked as he hopped off the swing and came to stand beside the Hatter, holding a cube in one hand and a small, circular magnifying glass. He looked at the Time Lady, his eyebrows raised, "That's new".

The Hatter grinned, grabbing his arm, her eyes lighting up, "Isn't it exciting?" she paused, catching sight of Amy, Rory, and Brian staring at her in disbelief. She coughed, "Um…I mean, isn't it confusing and possibly very bad, so we should probably get onto fixing that…" she cleared her throat and nodded to the Doctor, before turning and striding off for the TARDIS, her cheeks colouring very slightly.

The Doctor shook his head fondly, trying hard not to laugh as he moved to follow after her, leaving the humans to hurry to catch up to them.

….

Amy, Rory, and Brian stood around the controls of the TARDIS, watching as the Doctor peered through a larger magnifying glass at one of the cubes, while the Hatter was frowning deeply at her own one, turning it around and around in her hands, feeling with her fingertips for any slight imperfections, but there was none. It was completely perfect in shape.

"Hmm, odd," the Time Lady muttered, frowning deeply as she looked up at the computer monitor, checking the readers.

"All absolutely identical," the Doctor commented, walking around the console, still eyeing the cube through the glass, "Not a single molecule's difference between them. No blemishes, imperfections, individualities…" he came to a stop beside the Hatter, who nodded in agreement.

"What if they're bombs?" Brian questioned worriedly, making everyone look at him. He looked around at them, holding his own cube up in front of him, "Billions of tiny bombs? Or transport capsules maybe, with a mini robot inside?" his eyes widened, pointing at them, "Or deadly hard drives? Or alien eggs?" the Doctor and the Hatter exchanged a look at that one, wondering if they ought to be offended, "Or messages needing decoding. Or they're all parts of a bigger whole, jigsaw puzzles that need fitting together".

The Hatter blinked slowly, giving Brian a small smile, personally thinking that it was quite possible that any number of his suggestions might be right, though she really wasn't so sure about the alien egg one, "Those are all wonderful and very insightful suggestions, Brian," she reached out and lightly pattered his arm, "We will be sure to keep them all in mind, excellent work, my friend".

"Yes, very, very thorough," the Doctor nodded to him, while Brian looked quite pleased with himself, "Stay here. Watch these," he took the Hatter's cube and placed that and his own cube on top of Brian's cube. Brian fixed his gaze on them instantly, carefully balancing them just beneath his chin, "Yell if anything happens," he lightly pattered his arm, he then took the Hatter's hand and they turned, heading back over towards the door.

Amy and Rory moved to follow after them, leaving Brian to stare intently at the cubes, the Doctor pausing to pick up a large length of coiled, copper pipping that was sitting at the top of the steps leading down to the door, while the Hatter picked up a box filled with an assortment of loose wire and even an old computer keyboard. Rory, seeing his chance to help, grabbed a thick piece of rubber tubing.

"Hatter," Amy eyed the Time Lady, who glanced back over her shoulder to her, eyebrows raised expectedly, "Is this an alien invasion? Because that's what it feels like".

"There couldn't be life-forms in every cube, could there?" Rory questioned, adjusting the tubing on his shoulder.

"And should we be worried that you didn't bring Astra with you?"

The Hatter licked her lips, exchanging a quick look with the Doctor, "Possibly," she said quietly, turning back to face them, her expression growing grave, "To be honest, we don't exactly know what's happening, hence why we thought it best to leave Astra with my old companions, Max and Alice for a little while".

The Doctor sighed, frowning deeply, "I really don't like not knowing," he grumbled, and the Hatter nodded in agreement, even if it was all rather exciting and even kind of fun not knowing, the fact was that their ignorance right now could also be very dangerous. They needed answers and they needed them quickly. He turned and continued towards the doors, shoving them open and stepping out into Amy and Rory's living room, where they had moved the TARDIS, "Right," he said as the others followed behind him, "The Hatter and I need to use your kitchen as a lab".

"Let's see if we can find out anything about these cubes," the Time Lady commented as she followed on his heels into the kitchen, passing by a small pile of handy cubes just sitting on the kitchen counter for them to experiment on. She placed her box down on one of the counters, while the Doctor dropped the piping on the floor and moved to grab a pot off the side of the sink, moving to start filling it with water. She rubbed her hands together eagerly, making her look like a very colourfully dressed evil scientist, probably from a Disney movie, "Let's cook some cubes!"

Rory walked into the room and placed the tubing he was carrying on top of the small kitchen table, "Right," he straightened, checking his watch, "I'm due at work".

The Doctor's head snapped up to him, "What?" he frowned at him, "You've got a _job_?"

"Of course I've got a job," he gave him a strange look, while the Hatter shook her head at the Doctor and moved to start unpacking objects from the box she had been carrying, "What do you think we do when we're not with you two?" he gestured to himself and Amy, who was standing beside him.

"Well, this is going to be embarrassing…" the Hatter muttered to herself, already having a pretty good idea what the Doctor thought Amy and Rory did when they weren't with them.

"I imagined mostly kissing," the Doctor shrugged.

Amy rolled her eyes, crossing her arms across her chest, "Pretty sure that's you two, actually," she said with a pointed look between the Time Lords, who instantly blushed at the implication, "Isn't Astra kind of like a miracle baby just because of how hard it is for Time Lady's to conceive?"

The Hatter coughed, her cheeks bright red as she quickly turned her back on the humans, while the Doctor shifted awkwardly on the spot, opening and closing his mouth, speechless with embarrassment. In that moment, the idea that they could possibly make an army run away just at the mention of their names was totally absurd.

"I don't think I like what you're implying, Amy…" the brunet managed to say, though her voice sounded higher than normal and she seemed to be trying to hide behind her hair.

She smirked at them, rather enjoying seeing how red and embarrassed she could make them, it really was too easy, still, she was a little worried that if she kept this up, they might end up exploding from sheer embarrassment, just by the shade of red their faces had turned, "I write travel articles for magazines and Rory heals the sick," she informed the Time Lords, deciding to take pity on them.

Rory looked over to his wife, "My shift start in an hour," he began to move towards the kitchen door, frowning slightly over his shoulder, "You don't know where my scrubs are?"

"In the lounge, where you left them," Amy replied, shaking her head fondly, just as Rory disappeared out the door.

The Hatter smiled faintly as she watched them interacting, sounding just so domestic and so very…human, it was actually quite sweet to see them both in their natural environment, on Earth and in their home. She hadn't really seen much of that side of them before, they were always too busy running around and getting into trouble, when they did have downtime in the TARDIS, it was usually only because the humans needed to take a break to sleep, but this was nice to witness. They seemed happy together, a far cry from those early days when Amy had tried seducing the Doctor and Rory was left almost in limbo, uncertain about just how his own fiancé had felt about him. But here they were, together and living their life, no doubts, no insecurities. It was a joy to witness.

The Doctor caught the Hatter's eye and they exchanged a quick little smile, seeming to both be having similar thoughts regarding their human friends. They soon got back to the task at hand, however, moving to start piecing together bits and pieces from the box and the cables that they had brought with them from the TARDIS, setting to work connecting it all together in the middle of the kitchen table. They made fast work of it, the Time Lords moving seamlessly together, while the Doctor kept sneaking quick little glances at the Hatter and smiling at the sight of her expression, her nose scrunched up and her tongue peeking out of the corner of her lips in concentration, finding the sight positively adorable, though the second the Time Lady glanced at him, he quickly looked away again, pretending to be busy working on the device. All the while, Amy stood by the table and rolled her eyes at them, finding it quite amusing.

"All the Ponds," the Doctor remarked after a long lapse of silence, glancing up to Amy, while the Hatter was carefully stripping the end of some brightly coloured wires, "With their house and their jobs and their everyday lives," he pulled his magnifying glass out of his pocket, peering through it at one of the pieces of equipment, before putting it aside, "The journalist and the nurse," he gave Amy a grin as he pulled the sonic screwdriver from his pocket, flashing it at the wires the Time Lady had just passed him, "Long way from Leadworth".

"We think it's been ten years," Amy told them, watching them work. She always liked watching them work, they way that they could do it completely silently and still knew what the other person needed, "Not for you two or Earth, but for us," she sighed slightly as the Time Lords paused, looking back up to her, listening closely, "Ten years older. Ten years of you two, on and off".

"Has it truly bee that long?" the Hatter looked at her in surprise, shaking her head softly as Amy nodded, "You must forgive me, Amy, there are times when I think of you still as that little girl, but you're not," she gave Amy a broad smile, reaching out to touch her arm, squeezing it, "You've grown into a wonderful woman who I am incredibly proud of," she glanced at the Doctor, who was looking at Amy gently, before turning back to her, "We _both_ are".

Amy's cheeks grew slightly pink as she broke in a wide smile, looking slightly embarrassed but still quite happy, when the front door suddenly slammed open and armed soldiers dressed in black combat gear came storming into the entrance hall, one breaking off to go up the stairs while another went into the living room. The Doctor and the Hatter frowned deeply, exchanging a hurried look, not quite knowing what was going on.

"Clear!" one of the soldiers shouted from one of the rooms.

Three soldiers marched up the hall and into the kitchen doorway, blocking it, "Trap one," one of the soldiers called over his comm., his gun partly raised, "Kitchen secured".

"Trap three," another voice crackled over the link, "Back garden secured".

The Doctor and the Hatter blinked, turning to look back behind them to see four more soldiers standing around the closed glass door into the garden, completely trapping them in the kitchen. The Doctor slowly reached out and took the Hatter's hand, edging slightly closer together as Amy frowned at the soldiers seemingly surrounding her house, just as Rory, missing his trousers and showing off his orange boxer briefs, was led into the kitchen at gunpoint with his hands raised. The Time Lady couldn't help the little giggle that escaped her at the sight.

"There are soldiers in my house," Rory said in annoyance, looking slightly embarrassed, "And I'm in my pants," he waved his hands down at his exposed legs, huffing.

Amy smirked, eyeing him, "My whole life I've dreamed of saying that, and I miss it by being someone else".

"Nice legs, Rory," the Hatter laughed, the Doctor joining in with her as Rory shot them a dark look, shifting embarrassedly.

"All these muscles," a well-spoken, female voice sounded from down the hallway, "And they still don't know how to knock," a middle aged women appeared in the doorway, giving them an apologetic smile, her hands casually in the pockets of her dark blue trouser, partly covered by her tan trench coat and her short blonde hair just brushing against her collar, "Sorry about the raucous entrance," she continued, stepping further into the kitchen as Rory moved to stand beside his wife, "Spike in Artron energy reading at this address. In the light of the last twenty four hours, we had to check it out, and…" she paused, glancing at one of the soldiers standing next to her, "The dogs do love a run out. Hello," she turned back to them, giving them a friendly smile, pressing a hand against her chest, "Kate Stewart…" the Hatter gasped, suddenly looking like an excited six year old, "…head of scientific research at UNIT. And with dress sense like you two…" she suddenly pulled a small device out of her pocket and held it up towards the Doctor's chest, before doing the same thing to the Hatter, who was staring at the woman as though she could barely contain her excitement, scanning for their two hearts. She lowered the device, her eyes flickering between the Time Lords, "You must be the Doctor and the Hatter," she gave them a bright smile, the Doctor even saluting her, "I hoped it would be you two".

"Kitty Kat!" the Hatter gasped, making the Doctor, Amy, and Rory look at her in surprise, but she only had eyes to Kate, staring at her in amazement and delight, "Oh, look at you!" she grinned, shaking her head, her eyes running over her face, "All grown-up!"

Kate gave her a smile, looking quite pleased, "I wasn't sure if you would remember me or not…"

"Of course I remember you, how could I not?"

"Um, Hatter?" the Doctor looked between the Time Lady and Kate; his eyebrows raised curiously, though he couldn't help smiling faintly at how delighted the brunet looked. It was odd, even for the Hatter, to be so excited to meet someone, even someone who was obviously related to their very old and dear friend.

The Hatter blinked and gave him a briefly confused look, before realisation hit her and she nodded quickly, "Oh, yes, of course," she reached out and pattered his arm, giving him a small smile, "Explanations are in order," she turned back towards Kate, "Kate Stewart…I'm sure you recognise the last name, sweetheart, so I won't bother explaining that, but let's just say that I babysat her a few times, back when Kate was quite a bit smaller," she shrugged, still smiling as the Doctor looked back to Kate in a new light, "It just sort of happened, I was trying to see her father but ended up turning up when he was going out to some boring dinner, so I offered to look after Kate when her originally babysitter cancelled. We had loads of fun, played dress ups and did some experiments with milk".

Kate laughed faintly, "My father always did blame you for sparking my interest in science," she commented lightly, looking fondly at the Time Lady, while the Doctor smiled faintly at the Time Lady. And she said that _he_ corrupted people.

She raised her eyebrows, eyeing her, "And I assume that _you're_ the reason that UNIT seems to be run by the science department, rather than the military?"

"UNIT's been adapting," she nodded, before smiling and shrugging slightly, "Well, I dragged them along, kicking and screaming, which…which made it sound like more fun than it actually was," she sighed, her smile fading.

The Hatter giving her a sympathetic smile. Yes, she imagined it probably wasn't very fun, the military very rarely liked to accept change, let alone losing power and evolving into something other than guns and violence. Still, she personally thought it was for the best, UNIT had to evolve if it was to continue to help protect the Earth, not all battles could be fought with the military.

"Tell us, Kate," the Doctor began, growing serious, "What do we know about the cubes?"

"Far less than we need to," she sighed again, moving around them to stand on the other side of the kitchen table, all four of them turning to face her, "We've been freighting them in from around the world for testing. So far, we've subjected them to temperatures of plus and minus two hundred Celsius, simulated a water depth of five miles, dropped one out of a helicopter at ten thousand feet and rolled our best tank over it. Always intact".

"Blimey," the Hatter raised her eyebrows, looking impressed, "They're terribly tough, aren't they?" she frowned deeply, meeting the Doctor's eyes, "I hate it".

"I don't want them to be tough," the Doctor said with an annoyed expression, almost pouting, "I want them vulnerable with a nice Achilles heel".

The Time Lady nodded in agreement, looking thoughtful, "Everything has a weakness," she muttered, her expression growing determined as she looked back up to Kate, "We'll just have to find it. Think of it like a puzzle, sweetheart," she lightly nudged the Doctor's side, giving him a smile, trying to cheer him up, "I love puzzles".

That seemed to do the trick, instantly his pout vanished and he smiled happily back at her, kissing her cheek quickly, "You just like them because you always win, dear," he said as he straightened, pointing at her.

"Only when I let you win, of course, sweetheart".

"When have you _ever_ let me win at anything?" he stared at her in disbelief, knowing perfectly well just how competitive the Hatter could be when playing a game, not that he was much better. They had both agreed to never again play Monopoly against one another for the sake of their friendship after the last incident in his Sixth and her Fifth bodies…the Hatter had very nearly whacked him over the head with the board and he had ended up throwing it into the fire after she had managed to bankrupt him. It hadn't been a pretty four hours.

She laughed, giving him a little wink as she turned back towards Kate; "Back to the matter at hand…" she began, forcing herself to grow serious once more, "Do you have anything else to go on about the cubes?"

Kate shook her head, "We don't know how they got here," she told them, frowning slightly, "What they're made of, or why they're here".

"And all around the world, people are picking them up…" the Doctor grabbed one of the cubes off the table before them, throwing it up into the air and catching it again, "And taking them home".

"Like iPads have dropped out of the sky. Taking them to work, taking pictures, making films, posting them on Flickr and YouTube. Within three hours, the cubes had a thousand separate Twitter accounts".

The Hatter grimaced, "What is it with humans and there obsession with Twitter?" she muttered, truly confused by what the purpose of the site was for. To her, it seemed like all anyone did on that site was complain about stuff, at least YouTube had amusing videos of cats on it that Astra simply adored, though why anyone would wish to put the cubes on there was a complete mystery to the Time Lady.

"I've recommended we treat this as a hostile incursion," Kate continued, earning an approving look from the Hatter, who personally felt that it was the best course of action to take when they still had no idea what they were even dealing with. Kate smiled slightly at her, looking pleased, "Gather them all up and lock them in a secure facility," she sighed, her smile fading, "But that would take _massive_ international agreement and co-operating".

"We need evidence," the Doctor remarked, slipping his arm around the Hatter's waist, looking thoughtful, "The cubes arrived in plain sight, in vast quantities, as the sun rose. So…" he looked over to Amy and Rory, raising his eyebrows at them, "What does that tell us?"

"Maybe they wanted to be seen," Amy suggested, shrugging slightly, "Noticed".

The Hatter shook her head, "It's more than that, though," she commented, frowning deeply down at the small stack of piles sitting on the table before them, eyeing them closely, "They don't just want to be seen, they want us to be curious about them, to…observe them".

"So we observe them," the Doctor nodded at once, pointing at Kate with his hand that was currently lightly resting against the Time Lady's right hip. Kate blinked, looking quite surprised, "Stay with them round the clock," he went on, reaching out to pluck one of the cubes off the table again, holding it up close to his narrowed eyes, "Watch the cubes, day and night. Record absolutely everything about them," he flashed the humans and the Hatter a grin, "Team cube, in it together," he lifted the cube up to his lips, about to kiss it, when he suddenly turned and pecked the Hatter's lips, laughing at her startled expression, "Ha, ha! Didn't expect that, dear?"

She rolled her eyes fondly, plucking the cube out of his hand and sitting it back onto the table, "You are such an adorable idiot," she smiled softly at him.

….

The Hatter sighed as she sat sideways on the armchair in Amy and Rory's living room, her legs dangling over the armrest as she rested her chin on the palm of her hand, her elbow braced against the armrest, staring blankly at the small pile of cubes that they had gathered and placed on the coffee table, barely even seeing them now after so long of just staring at them, feeling as though her brain was slowly turning to mush from sheer lack of amusement. She was also missing Astra, but she was still quite relieved that they hadn't brought her with them, aside from how terribly bored and grumpy the baby would have been just sitting around, doing nothing like this, at least she was far away from whatever risk these cubes might possess. The Time Lady wasn't the only one who was feeling bored, the Doctor was hardly handling it any better than she was, lying upside down in the middle of the couch, his legs dangling over the top of the couch and his head level with the coffee table, while Amy and Rory sat on either side of him, watching the cubes.

" _Four_ days," the Doctor grumbled, glaring at the cubes upside down, "Nothing!" he snatched one of the cubes off the pile, turning it around and around in his fingers, still glaring at it angrily, " _Nothing_! Not a single change in _any_ cube anywhere in the world," he smacked the cube with his palm in sheer frustration before slamming it back onto the table, sitting upright to look between Amy and Rory, " _Four days_ , and I'm still in your lounge!"

Amy pulled a face at him, " _You_ and the Hatter were the ones who wanted to observe them," she reminded him.

"Yes, well, we thought they'd do _something_ , didn't we?" he huffed in frustration, "Not just sit there while everyone eats endless cereal?" he struggled for a moment before managing to climb over the top of the sofa, storming off over towards the living room door, while the Hatter blinked sleepily.

"You said we had to be patient," Rory said calmly, almost sounding as though he was speaking to a child.

"Yes, _you_!" he suddenly reappeared in the doorway, pointing his finger at Rory and Amy, " _You_ , not _me_! I hate being patient! Patience is for wimps," he moved to flop back down on the couch between the couple, staring ahead of him, "I can't live like this. Don't make me," he shook his head, "I need to be busy".

"Fine!" Amy snapped, unable to stand it any longer, "Be busy! We'll watch the cubes".

The Doctor and the Hatter caught each other's eyes, exchanging a grin as they both leapt out of their seats and eagerly run out of the room, both just needing to find _something_ to do.

…

The first thing that they did was creosote Amy and Rory's side fence, making quick work of the fence as the Time Lords worked from one side to the other, meeting in the middle, where the Doctor cheekily tried snagging a kiss from the Time Lady and very nearly ended up getting his clothing covered in paint after the Hatter brandished the paintbrush at him like a sword, resulting a small fight filled with much laughter and running around the back garden. They eventually grew tired of that, however, instead playing a mini game of football between them, though the Hatter was unsurprised to find that the Doctor was a lot better at it then she was, unable to resist rolling her eyes fondly as he showed off his skill, bouncing the ball up into the air on his knees and the top of his feet.

"…ninety eight," the Doctor counted off as he bounced the ball from foot to foot, the Hatter watching from a few steps away with her arms crossed across her chest on the freshly mowed grass, "Ninety nine, one hundred…see, dear!" he flashed the Hatter an excited grin, still bouncing the ball, "One hundred and one, one hundred and two…"

"Show off," the Hatter muttered, finding it rather unfair just how good he was at playing football when he was usually so clumsy in this body.

Eventually, she grew tired of watching and instead went back into the house, cleaning the kitchen until it was almost completely spotless, even polishing the silver wear and scrubbing the oven, not even minding cleaning up if it meant having something to do, while in the next room she could hear the Doctor running the vacuum around the living room like a madman, having managed to reach five million bounces of the football before giving up, very proud of himself for beating his record, so much so that the Hatter had laughed and given him a gentle kiss, his forehead slightly sweaty.

After what felt like hours, the Time Lords run out of things to do and returned to the living room, smiling brightly and feeling quite happy now, the Doctor dropping back onto the sofa between Amy and Rory, while the Hatter collapsed onto the armchair, feeling strangely refreshed. She never had dealt with not doing anything very well, probably slightly better than the Doctor, since she seemed to find herself slowing down and becoming more subdued when she was bored, rather than him and his bursts of energy, but she still would much rather be running around, using her hands and brain, even if domestic chores like scrubbing an oven was hardly mentally stimulating, it was _something_.

"Ah, my brain no longer feels like it's turning into soup," the Time Lady remarked happily, closing her eye's and tilting her head back against the top of the armchair, a smile plastid across her lips.

"Yes, much better," the Doctor agreed cheerfully, casting the Hatter a quick look, happy that she looked so happy now and not as though she was about to fall asleep from sheer boredom, "Nothing like a bit of activity to pass the time," he glanced back to Amy and Rory, "How long we're we gone?"

"Er…" Rory checked his wristwatch, "About an hour".

The Hatter's eyes snapped open and she quickly looked back across the humans, releasing a loud groan of exasperation, "Seriously?" she moaned, unable to believe how slow time moved on Earth while staying in one place with limited things to do. How did humans not go insane?

The Doctor shook his head slowly, meeting the Hatter's eyes, "I can't do it," he said, jumping up onto his feet, "No".

"Second that!" the Hatter nodded quickly, hopping off the armchair and hurrying after him as they moved towards the TARDIS, parked at the back of the room. She was honestly quite certain that if she spent another hour like this, her brain would be sorely affected and she would completely lose all trace of sanity that she possessed, which wasn't a whole lot to begin within the first place. She needed to do something exciting! Sitting in Amy and Rory's living room, eating bowl after bowl of Crunchy Nut cereal and staring at those damn cubes was mind numbing.

Amy frowned slightly, climbing onto her feet with Rory, "Where are you going?" she asked, following after them into the time machine.

The Time Lords didn't reply, stepping into the console room, exchanging a quick, slightly surprised look at the sight of Brian sitting on a floral fold-up chair, staring off in space, one of the cubes sitting on top of the console. The Hatter felt a wave of guilt wash over her; he hadn't been in the TARDIS the last four days, had he?

"Brian!" the Doctor called to him, making the man blink and look up, just as they stepped up the stairs to him, "You're still here".

"You told me to watch the cubes," Brian said with a small frown, looking up to them.

The Hatter nodded slowly, her guilt growing, "Yes, but that was _four_ days ago, Brian," she told him, giving him a small smile.

"Ah! Doesn't time fly when you're alone with your thoughts?"

Rory shook his head at his father, apparently not the slightest bit surprised, and turned back towards the Time Lords as the Doctor laughed faintly, "You can't just leave," he eyed them both with a stern expression.

"Yes, of course we can," the Doctor glanced at him, placing his hands on his hips, while Brian stood and folded his chair up, "Quick jaunt, restore sanity and check up on Astra…" he and the Hatter exchanged an excited grin at the prospect of seeing their daughter again after four days of being separated from her, "Ooh, hey…" he suddenly turned back towards Amy and Rory, pointing at them eagerly, "Come if you like".

"Astra would be delighted to see you again," the Hatter added hopefully, draping her arm over Rory's shoulder, "The poor sweetie has been going through a rough time of teething lately," she sighed slightly, before brightening again, "But I'm sure Max and Alice would enjoy meeting you two properly, swapping stories and embarrassing the Doctor and I, I'm sure".

Brian frowned, however, "They can't just go off like that," he shook his head at the Time Lords.

"Can't they?" the Doctor looked genuinely surprised, while the Hatter nodded slowly and dropped her arm from over Rory's shoulders, realising that Brian was right. As much fun as it would be, Amy and Rory did have their life on Earth to think about. The Doctor, on the other hand, didn't seem to have realised that yet, looking back to Amy and Rory in growing confusion, "Can't you? That's how it goes, isn't it?"

"I've got my job," Rory reminded him, while Amy remained silent.

"Oh, yes, Rory," he rolled his eyes, his tone sarcastic, "The Universe is waiting, but you have a little job to do".

The Hatter gave him a sharp look and nudged his side, making him wince, "Doctor…" she said warningly.

Rory crossed his arms across his chest, narrowing his eyes on the Doctor, "It's not _little_ ," he huffed in annoyance, "It's important to me. Look, what you two do isn't _all_ there is".

The Doctor shifted slightly awkwardly, looking a little sheepish, "I never said it was," he muttered.

"We know that you're lives are important to you, Rory," the Hatter said gently, giving Rory an apologetic smile, "Please don't think for a moment that we don't, we just…we're still trying to get used to having companions who have two lives, one travelling with us and the other on Earth, neither of us have ever had companions like that before, so it's a bit of learning curve for us all," she reached out and lightly pattered Rory's arm, before glancing at Amy, "Look, I promise you, we'll be back shortly and we'll make sure the TARDIS monitors every Earth news feed".

"Monitor the cubes," the Doctor added as he looked around at the humans, still looking a little uncomfortable after what Rory had said, "Call us," he turned and walked over to the console, starting to fiddle with the controls, though they all suspect it was just to avoid any more awkwardness.

The Hatter waved them goodbye as Amy, Rory, and Brian left the TARDIS, the time machine disappearing a moment later.

…

Four months had gone by since the cubes had first arrived and the Doctor and the Hatter had left, reassuring Amy and Rory that they would be back soon, but so far they had only had a couple of short phone calls from the Hatter to tell them that they hadn't forgotten about the cubes and that, yes, they were still watching the situation closely, but at this point they didn't seem to feel that there was any reason for them to return to Earth while the cubes continued to remain completely dormant. Amy and Rory had grown used to the cubes by now, in fact most people had, there were still plenty of theories going around about the cubes being possibly a marketing scheme or something like that, but most people seemed to have started to accept the cubes as a part of daily life now. No one really seemed to care, it was old news.

"I said yes," Rory was saying to Amy one evening as they sat up in bed, having just been discussing how their day had gone, Rory having been offered a fulltime position at the hospital. He stared at the wall directly in front of their bed, frowning very slightly, as though he still couldn't quite believe that he had agreed, "I committed".

"And I committed to being a bridesmaid," Amy remarked, looking just as shocked, having spent the evening out with a couple of her friends, "Months in advance. Like I know I'm going to be here".

"So the Doctor and the Hatter are God knows where, the cubes aren't doing anything at all. Did real life just get started?"

"I like it".

"So do I," Rory agreed, and slowly lifted his teacup up to his lips, raising his eyebrows at Amy over the rim.

…

It was June and Amy was smiling slightly around at her guests, trying hard not to show how annoyed she was, holding her mobile phone up to her ear as she waited for the Hatter, who usually was the one who always picked up, to answer as music drifted through the air, Rory and Brian busy barbequing some sausages on the grill in the back garden. She sighed slightly as the Hatter's cheerful voice came over, telling her to leave a message after the beep and they'd get back to them…just as long as the Universe wasn't imploding. Typical.

"Hey!" she called over the phone, just as the beep sounded, "Doctor, Hatter, it's me. Hello…Astra, if you're there, I haven't forgotten about you," she walked closer towards the open doors of the house as she spoke, knowing perfectly well how cranky Astra could get when she was feeling left out, "So, the UN classified the cubes as provisionally safe, whatever that means…" she wrinkled her nose and shook her head as she continued, "And, er, Banksy and Damien Hirst put out statements saying the cubes are nothing to do with them. And the cubes, well, they're just…here. Still. What's it been, nine months?" she turned her back on the doors, shrugging slightly, "People are just taking them for granted. Maybe we'll never know why they come. But anyway…I got to Laura's wedding. It was great. She's here tonight…" she frowned deeply, allowing her annoyance to seep into her tone, "Being as it's our _wedding anniversary_. We thought you two might have dropped by. I left you messages…"

"And we received them," the Hatter's voice said brightly from behind her, "All twenty of them, in fact, you certainly wanted to make sure we remembered".

Amy whirled around, lowering her phone from her ear, breaking into a wide smile at the sight of the Hatter standing right behind her with a neatly wrapped gift with a bright pink bow on it, while beside her the Doctor was peering over the top of a massive bouquet of flowers. The Time Lords were smiling at her, Astra once again noticeably absent.

"Happy anniversary!" the Doctor cheered, handing the flowers to Amy, who couldn't even pretend not to be delighted to see them.

"We're sorry we didn't bring Astra," the Hatter sighed, giving Amy a small smile as she handed her the present, "She's still with Max and Alice, it's only been a few hours for her," she glanced at the Doctor, her expression growing weary, "We just don't want to risk anything with these cubes still hanging around".

"Won't Astra be upset with you two?" Amy asked, looking amused as she juggled the flowers and the gift.

"Oh, terribly so, which is why she will never know. _Understood_?"

"Got it".

"Come with us," the Doctor said to Amy, who blinked and looked back to him. He grabbed the Hatter's hand and turned, walking back into the house as the Time Lady grinned, "And bring your husband!" he added over his shoulder.

Amy, still trying to juggle the flowers and present, looking back over to Rory and gave him a pointed look, before turning to hurry after the Time Lords.

…

The Doctor grinned and threw the TARDIS doors open, throwing his arms out wide as he stepped out with the Hatter right beside him, looking positively thrilled as they looked around the lavish, 1800 century hotel room, filled with soft lighting from lit candles and a large wooden bed with fabric draping over the headboard. Amy and Rory followed a moment later, both dressed in late 1800 century clothing, staring around in amazement, not having been told exactly where they were going.

"26th of June, 1890," the Doctor informed he humans, wrapping his arm around the Hatter's waist as they moved to stand before the marble fireplace, just as the rooms door swung open and a man dressed in a black and white livery appeared, allowing another man dressed like a chief with a silver platter to enter, "The recently opened Savoy Hotel," he smiled at the excited couple, "Dinner, bed, and breakfast for two. Bonjour, bonjour…" he nodded to the staff as the chief moved to place the dish on a small table, already laid out for two, "Merci, Auguste".

"Don't worry about anything," the Hatter told Amy and Rory, giving them a wide smile, "We'll be sure to have you back before anyone even suspects that you've popped out of your own party".

"No complications," he promised them, looking quickly between them, "We… _I_ promise," he corrected himself hurriedly, not about to risk possibly getting in trouble with the Hatter for making a promise without her consent again, even if the chances of anything happening was low…you just never know.

Rory simply stepped forward and grabbed the Doctor, kissing both of his cheeks, before turning and doing the same thing to the Hatter, who laughed as he stepped back from her.

"Well, we really ought to surprise you guys more often," she remarked happily, feeling quite touched by how happy Amy and Rory obviously was.

…

The Hatter sighed loudly, "Why does this _always_ happen to us?" she groaned, little flecks of snow drifting past her soot smudged cheeks, getting caught in her hair and on the brim of her hat, which looked a little burnt.

The Doctor nodded grimly beside her, his hair slightly mused as he held a cabbage in his lap, while Amy and Rory sat on either side of them, still wearing the nightwear, slightly singed in places with smudges on their faces and their hair all over the place as they looked glumly ahead of them at the busy Victorian street they were sitting on.

"Bit of a shock," he agreed, quite pleased to have an excuse to sit so closely next to the Time Lady, though he didn't really need an excuse, "Zygon ship under the Savoy, half the staff imposters. Still, it's all fixed now, eh?" he tried to smile, looking over to Amy and then back passed the Hatter to Rory, but neither of them returned his smile.

The Hatter lightly nudged his side and shook her head sternly; Amy and Rory really weren't in the mood right now. Looks like they would have to try and make up for this…

….

The Doctor and the Hatter burst through the inner chamber door of a very large, Tudor-style bedroom, while Amy and Rory hurried behind them, quickly looking around frantically for any handy exit that they could make an escape through, but sadly there appeared to be out of luck. Behind them, on the main bedroom door, loud banging of fists could be heard echoing back to them though the chamber.

"Gentlemen!" a deep, angry voice sounded between pounding, "Open the doors!"

"I thought we were going home?" Amy said as she looked quickly over to the Time Lady, who was looking around hurriedly for a way to escape, while the Doctor hopped up onto the large bed.

"You can't miss a good wedding," the Doctor remarked, bouncing slightly on top of the bed on his knees.

The Hatter threw a worried look back over her shoulder towards the main double doors of the bedroom, the pounding growing louder. It wouldn't be much longer before they had it open and it really wouldn't be a good thing once that happened, they had been lucky to avoid being recognised so far, she wasn't willing to bet that their luck would hold out for much longer, and that wasn't to mention just what a mess Amy had managed to get herself into.

"Never mind the blasted wedding!" she shook her head at the Doctor, grabbing Amy's arm and dragging her closer to the bed, slipping her hat off and sticking into her jacket pocket in the process, "Come on, under here!"

She knelt down and scrambled under the bed, while the Doctor, Amy, and Rory moved to follow suit, lying on their stomachs beneath the rather high bed with the Time Lords between the humans, just as the sound of metal grinding together sounded from the outer chamber of the bedroom, waiting quietly as the sound of heavy footsteps reached them.

"It wasn't my fault," Amy whispered, quite defensively.

"It was totally your fault!" Rory shot back, rolling his eyes.

"Somebody was talking and I just said 'yes'".

The Doctor and the Hatter sighed, exchanging a quick look. Why did this _always_ happen?

"To wedding vows! You just married Henry VII on our _anniversary_ ".

"Could have been worse," the Hatter muttered, "She might have married him on your honeymoon…" she gave the Doctor a sharp look, making him wince.

"I said I was sorry!" the Doctor said in a hushed voice, his eyes widening, "Who would have thought that Liz the First would be so keen on me?"

"Oh, shut up, don't pretend as though it doesn't stroke that planet sized ego of yours!"

"Shh!" Amy and Rory hissed in unison, instantly making the Time Lords fall silent, just as a pair of feet walked into the room and stepped over by the bed, stopping just by them…

And the Doctor just had to sneeze, right in that moment. The Hatter closed her eyes and ducked her head, while Rory covered his face with both his hands and Amy sighed.

"Sorry," he glanced back to the humans and his wife, wincing slightly at the glare the Time Lady shot him.

"I hate you sometimes, sweetheart," the Hatter shook her head at him.

"No you don't!" he flashed her a grin, sneaking a kiss to her cheek before she had a chance to block him.

….

The Doctor and the Hatter smiled as they stood in the doorway of Amy and Rory's kitchen, cheering along with the rest of the guests as they watched Amy and Rory cutting their cake, having managed to get the couple back to their party only an hour after they had left. The rest of the party apparently hadn't even noticed that their hosts were missing. Brian caught sight of the Time Lords, just as Amy and Rory embraced, and walked over towards them as they instantly stopped cheering and exchanged a quick look, not liking the small frown on Brian's face.

"How long were they away?" he asked them as he reached them, keeping his back to the rest of the party.

The Doctor gave him an innocent look, while the Hatter stuck her hands into her pockets of her jacket and avoided looking directly at him, probably making herself look even more guilty, "I don't know what you're talking about, Brian," he told the man, not quite meeting his eyes, either.

"Because they're wearing totally different clothes from earlier".

"Oh…" the Hatter blinked, giving Brian a fleeting, sheepish little smile, "Clever, Brian. Well done," she cleared her throat, glancing back over to Amy and Rory, who were talking happily to a few of their guests, "Seven weeks, I'm afraid".

"We got side-tracked," the Doctor commented, glancing sideways at the Hatter, who once again avoided his eyes, "A lot".

Brian looked between them for a long moment, his expression grim, "What happened to the other people who travel with you?" he questioned, eyeing them.

Instantly, the Time Lords froze, staring back at him. The Hatter swallowed and reached out to take the Doctor's hand, squeezing it gently. Of course Brian would ask, she understood why he would, she was a mother and the idea of Astra gallivanting around the Universe…well, it chilled her to her bones knowing just how dangerous it could be, wonderful and exciting, yes, but so very dangerous. She didn't know what Astra would grow up to be or do, perhaps she would follow in their footsteps and wish to travel, but a part of her hoped she didn't, after all the things she had witnessed, a part of her just wanted Astra to stay safe, away from all of that. Brian had to be feeling even more fear for Rory and Amy, he had only seen a tiny snippet of what travelling with them was like, his imagination was probably working on overdrive, but the truth was, he was right to be worried.

"Some left," the Doctor said quietly, squeezing the Hatter's hand, "Some got left behind. And some…" he hesitated, casting Brian a quick look as the man seemed to be preparing himself, "Not many, but…some died," the Hatter winced, closing her eyes as she ducked her head, those who had died passing through her mind, April, Adric, their daughter, Jenny, and even River Song in the Library. There was more, who had passed, but she hadn't had the chance to know them, but she knew that their deaths still weighed heavily upon the Doctor's shoulders, even after all these centuries. He took a deep breath and looked back up to Brian, "Not them," he shook his head firmly, squeezing his eyes shut, "Not them, Brian. Never them".

The Hatter reached out and touched Brian's hand with the hand not currently entwined with the Doctor's, "Brian," she met his eyes, "I give you my word as a mother, that we will protect your son and Amy, to the very best of our ability".

And they would try to keep them both safe and ensure that they came home, but the fact was that it might not always be possible. They would try, though, Amy and Rory meant the Universe to them and they would do whatever they could to get them home.

…

It was later at night and the very last of the party guests had just left, the Doctor and the Hatter were standing side-by-side in the garden, the shrubs lit up by different coloured fairy lights as Amy stood on the other side of the Time Lady, turning a cube around in her hand, eyeing it as Rory cleaned up the kitchen.

"Can we stay here…with you and Rory…for a bit?" the Doctor asked Amy suddenly, making her blink and look back to him in surprise. He cleared his throat, reaching out to tap his finger against the cube in her hand, "Keep an eye on the cubes," he looked away from her again as the Hatter smiled very slightly, "However long that takes".

Amy looked between them and away, struggling to hold back a pleased smile, "I thought it would drive you mad," she remarked lightly, her happiness creeping into her tone.

"No, no, no," he shook his head, "I mean, I'll be better at it this time".

"We both will," the Hatter added softly, giving Amy a little wink, letting her know that she wasn't fooling her.

The Doctor nodded slowly, "We…" he paused, looking away from her, "Miss you".

Amy stared at him for a long moment before looking away, breaking into a delighted grin. She caught the Time Lady's smile and the Hatter gave her a gentle smile, linking her arm through hers, "What about Astra?" she questioned after a moment, regaining some of her composer.

"Well…" the Hatter licked her lips, giving Amy a hopeful look, "If you wouldn't mind having a grumpy, teething, seven month old baby come to stay…"

She grinned at her, playfully nudging the Time Lady's side, "We'd love to have her, Hatter".

The Doctor and the Hatter exchanged bright smiles, delighted with the prospect of not only spending time with Amy and Rory, but also having their daughter back with them again. They were still concerned about the cubes, of course, but they simply couldn't bear the idea of being parted from Astra any longer, not when the cubes hadn't shown any threatening behaviour as of yet. They would keep her and everyone else safe, they always would.

…

A month had gone by since the Doctor, the Hatter, and Astra had moved into Amy and Rory's house, and so far things had gone well…okay, so eight month old Astra did spend a lot of time crying while chewing on everything that she could get her tiny hands on as her teething issues continued, but as far as the Time Lords went with putting up with the boredom of living on Earth, they had done pretty well so far. Trying to sooth Astra and keep her from chewing on anything that she really shouldn't, such as the sonic screwdriver and TV remote, had kept them all quite busy and it kept the Time Lords from getting to annoyed that the cubes had yet to do anything.

The Hatter sat comfortably on the armchair in the living room, the chair she had practically declared as hers since she found it to be the most comfortable in the whole house, Astra sitting in her lap as she chewed sloppily on a fish finger covered in custard, getting most of it down the front of her bib then in her actual mouth, her green eyes fixed on the TV, for once not complaining about her gums. Over on the sofa, the Doctor was sitting between Amy and Rory with a bowl full of custard sitting in his lap as even the humans snacked on the unusual dish

"I sent you out to sell as many cubes as you could in twenty four hours," Lord Sugar was saying on the TV, sitting at a large table with a man and woman sitting on either side of him, "And look at you; you've made a right hash of it, haven't you? Well, Craig, you're fired".

"If I had a restaurant," the Doctor commented, glancing at Rory beside him, holding a partly eaten fish finger between his fingers, "This'd be all I'd serve".

Astra cheered at that and began clapping in agreement; dropping what was left of her fish finger, making the Hatter sigh. Perhaps letting Astra eat out of her high chair wasn't the best idea, after all.

"Yes, that's right, my little star," he grinned over at her, looking delighted that Astra seemed to agree with him, not that it was anything new. Astra did tend to agree with most of her father's ideas, "And you can be my sous-chief!"

The Hatter smiled faintly as Astra gurgled happily, her speech really was improving, she was almost managing to say words now, like 'dada' and 'mama,' but 'no' was also quickly becoming quite clear, though that was what happened with most toddlers, "Maybe when you're older, my darling," she said fondly, one hand keeping Astra from slipping off her lap and the other lightly toying with her thickening, dark brown hair.

Amy shook her head slightly, glancing at the Doctor as she dipped her fish finger back into the custard bowl, "Yeah, right," she laughed slightly, "You, Doctor, running a restaurant".

"Wouldn't be the first time," the Hatter shrugged slightly, carefully leaning over towards the coffee table to grab a packet of wet wipes, hoping Astra wouldn't put up to much a fuss while she tried to cleaning up her messy face and hands, though perhaps a bath would just be easier.

The Doctor grinned proudly at Amy, who gave him a surprised look, "Who do you think invented the Yorkshire pudding?"

Rory laughed slightly, before he paused, eyeing the Doctor suspiciously when neither him nor the Time Lady joined in, "You didn't".

"Pudding, yet savoury. Sound familiar?"

The Hatter looked amused as Amy and Rory both gave the Doctor odd looks, still not seeming to know if they really ought to believe him or not, "I really don't miss those pregnancy cravings," she said lightly, winking at the humans.

…

The next afternoon found the Doctor and the Hatter playing a game of tennis on the Wii, the Time Lords standing before the TV with the controllers in their hands, while Astra was balancing herself on her own two feet by grasping the top railing of her playpen, peering out through the bars to watch her parents, poor, abused Cyril the teddy bear left lying on the floor beside her as the baby cheered her father on, much to the Doctor's amusement and the Hatter's disappointment. Of course Astra would be on the Doctor's side, she truly was a daddy's girl.

"Oh, yes!" the Doctor grinned smugly, nudging the Hatter's side as the Time Lady shot him a dark look as on the TV screen, the animated crowd cheered loudly, "Second set, Doctor! Ha, ha!"

"This game really isn't fair," the Hatter huffed in annoyance, shooting the Doctor another look, "You've been trained by a professional tennis player".

He continued to grin, still looking very proud of himself, "Oh, if Fred Perry could see me now, eh?" he nudged her side again, quickly stepping back as she moved to whack his elbow away with a narrowed eyed glare. He winced slightly, yes, she wasn't the best at admitting defeat when it came to games, this regeneration seemed to be the worst by far at it, too.

"I would imagine that he would be asking about what you did with those shorts you stole from him".

"I didn't steal, I _borrowed_ them, Hatter!"

The Time Lady raised her eyebrows at him, "Same difference with you, isn't it, sweetheart?" she flipped the controller in her hand and caught it, fixing him with a challenging look, "Never mind that, though. Third set decider".

He pointed his controller at her as she playfully tapped his arm with her own, giving him a little wink to let him know that she wasn't nearly as cross as she probably seemed as they both turned back towards the TV, bouncing from side to side as they got ready for the next match, Astra giggling with excitement.

"Come on, then, dear," he flashed her a smirk, "Let's see what you've got…" he focused on the screen, getting ready, just as one of the cubes suddenly appeared hovering before them, blocking their view. He tried waving it away, while the Hatter blinked and gave the cube a startled look, "Nice try, Hatter," he said, not seeming to have noticed anything, "But you're going to have to come up with something better then that if you're going to beat me…"

"Doctor," the Hatter reached out and grabbed his arm, staring at the cube with wide eyes, "I'm not doing anything..."

He froze at that and glanced back to her, blinking slowly as it dawned on him that she wasn't playing a little prank on him right now to try and distract him. He turned back towards the cube, eyeing it closely as it continued to hover in the air before them, humming lightly, "Whatever you are," he said firmly to the cube, leaning closer towards him, "This planet, these people, are precious to us. And we will defend them to our last breaths ," he frowned slightly as the cube simply hovered there, not doing anything else, "Is that all you can do? Hover?" he shook his head, straightening as he looked back to the Time Lady, who had stepped closer to Astra's playpen, "I had a metal dog who could do that".

"K9 could do a lot more then hover, Doctor," the Time Lady reminded him, frowning deeply as the eyed the cube, standing so that she was partly blocking Astra from view. She didn't like this, not one bit, when suddenly one of the cube's faces opened to reveal a metal tube, pointed directly at the Doctor, reminding her horribly of a barrel of a gun, "Doctor," she began nervously, quickly swopping down to pickup Astra, holding her tightly to her side, "I think we probably ought to leave now…"

"Ooh," the Doctor peered at the cube, not seeming to be the slightest bit concerned, "That's clever. What's that?"

The cube suddenly shot out a bolt of bright blue energy, narrowly missing the Doctor and instead shattering a vase of flowers. Astra began crying loudly in fear as the Doctor ducked away, running over to the Time Lady and wrapping his arm around her as they both jumped up onto the sofa cushions and over the back of the couch, hiding behind it as the Hatter tried soothing Astra's cries. The Doctor laid down on his stomach and peered beneath the couch, his eyes widening as the cube moved to hover on the other side, just an inch off the ground, firing another bolt of energy that just missed him again.

"We need to make a run for it!" the Hatter said urgently, wincing as Astra's cries rang in her ear.

The Doctor met her eyes and nodded quickly, quickly checking back over the sofa towards the cube before jumping onto his feet and trying to cover the Hatter and Astra as they made a break for the hallway door, the cube firing another couple of shots at them, just as they skidded to a stop in the hallway, falling against the wall beside the door, Astra's cries finally dying down now that they were out of danger. The Time Lords slowly looked at one another and carefully moved to peer around the edge of the doorway, watching curiously as the cube returned to hovering before the TV, images of old news reports and historical events flashing rapidly across the screen as the cube seemed to be scanning it all, the same images flashing across the sides of the cube.

"Well, this is interesting," the Hatter muttered, pressing a quick kiss onto the top of Astra's head, ignoring the small dark blue bow hairclip in her hair.

The Doctor nodded in agreement, eyeing the cube, "Ooh, you really have woken up," he remarked, watching it continue to scan.

"Doctor, Hatter?" Rory's voice called suddenly, making the Time Lords turn away from the living room, just as Rory came running out of the kitchen towards them, looking a little alarmed, "Hi," he greeted them quickly, pointing back over his shoulder towards the kitchen, "Er, the cube in there, it…it just opened".

"The cube upstairs just spiked me and took my pulse!" Amy cried, thundering down the stairs to them, holding her right hand out in front of her.

The Doctor laughed, looking quite excited, "Really?" he grinned, while the Hatter reached out to take Amy's right hand with the arm not currently holding Astra onto her hip, eyeing the perfectly square series of tiny dots marking her palm, "Ours fired laser bolts and now it's surfing the web," he informed the humans, sounding like a kid at Christmas.

The front door swung open suddenly and Brian appeared, "You're never going to believe this," he told them quickly, hurrying closer to them, his eyes wide, "My cube just moved," he looked at the Time Lords eagerly, "It _rattled_ ".

Rory shook his head at his father as the Doctor and the Hatter both exchanged grins, just as Rory's phone began ringing. He quickly grabbed it out of his pocket, answering it, "Uh, hello?" he listened for a moment, nodding, "Okay, I'm on my way," he lowered his phone from his ear and clicked it off, looking around at them, "I have to get to work. They need all the help they can get".

"Let me come," Brian said to him, making him turn towards him, "Help out".

"Take your dad to work night, brilliant!" he smiled brightly at him, clapping him on the shoulder before turning back towards Amy, "Okay, are you going to be all right here?"

Amy leaned forward and kissed his cheek, giving him a slightly concerned look a she pulled back, "Keep away from the cubes," she told him.

"Right," he nodded to her.

"We'll look after her, Rory," the Hatter reassured him, patting him on the back as he passed her, heading for the front door.

He gave her a quick smile and a thumbs-up before he and Brian left, disappearing as the door closed behind them. Just as the door clicked shut, the Doctor jumped slightly, making the Hatter look at him in concern as he quickly reached into his blazer pocket and pulled out his psychic paper, flipping it open. Slowly, he began to smile, holding it out to the Hatter to see, her eyes lighting up in delight at the message.

Amy eyed them curiously, "What are you two grinning about?" she asked, unable to help smiling slightly herself.

The Doctor looked back up to her, still smiling widely as he flipped the psychic paper closed, "We're wanted at the Tower of London," he said brightly, slipping the paper away inside his pocket.

Astra squealed excitedly, clapping her hands.

 _ **So I got to see the latest Avengers movie the other day and, spoiler free, it was amazing! Seriously, I loved every second of it, I just want to know what they're going to do now, I'm really enjoying reading all of the different theories about what might happen in the next part. Also, Tony Stark and Doctor Stranger, one of my favourite things seeing those two together, Strange is my favourite Marvel character, after all, not to mention Captain America's pretty much just going along with a certain character without even blinking made me laugh. It has to be one of the best movies I've seen in a long time, highly recommended watching it, everyone. Seriously, so good!**_

 _ **It managed to perfectly fit all of the characters without feeling like the plot was getting bogged down or that characters were being ignored, which is impressive considering how many characters they had. Plus, it never once felt like any of the characters were out of character. Ever since I saw the movie, I haven't been able to think about anything else, my imagination has been running wild. An amazing movie, seriously.**_

 _ **Have I been gushing over Marvel a little too much? I kind of feel like I have been, but I just loved the movie so much. Anyway, I really hope that you liked this chapter, I did intent to post it last week, but I didn't get to finish it on time, sadly. Tell me what you thought, please review :)**_

 _ **Guest review:**_

 _ **Sam Fraser:**_ _ **It's a good suggestion, but it wouldn't work for this story, I'm afraid. The Hatter is well aware of the War Doctor and knows him very well, maybe not as well as some other versions of him, but they did spend a little bit of time together during the Time War, she did give him the Moment, after all. Thank you for the suggestion, though :)**_


	9. Chapter 9 The Power of Three, Part 2

_**The Power of Three, Part 2**_

A black town car was waiting outside Amy and Rory's house as the Time Lords stepped outside the front of the house, Amy following close behind them, while Astra babbled excitedly about getting to see the Tower of London and wondering if they might have any ravens to play with, the Hatter had given the Doctor a pointed look at that one and the Doctor had cleared his throat innocently and instead pulled the back door of the car open, gesturing for the Time Lady to climb in first. The trip to the Tower went smoothly, travelling through the streets of London as the sky began to darken outside and before they knew it, the car was pulling up in the massive courtyard of the Tower and they were greeted by Kate, who was standing just within the doorway of the Tower waiting for them to arrive. She looked rather startled at the sight of Astra sitting on the Hatter's hip.

"Oh, yes," the Time Lady nodded, smiling at Kate, "You haven't meet Astra yet, have you?" she looked down to Astra, who was eyeing Kate curiously, "Astra, this is our friend Kate Stewart, she's in charge of UNIT".

Astra perked up at the mention of UNIT, having heard several stories from her parents about the agency, giving Kate a wide grin that showed the very tips of her new teeth peeking through the gums.

"Aww," the Doctor cooed, reaching over to lightly stroke Astra's cheek, "She likes you".

"I didn't realise you had a daughter…" Kate blinked slightly in surprise, finding the baby to be rather sweet, but she was still quite taken aback by the fact that the Doctor and the Hatter had a child together and apparently that little detail had been missed, something in itself that was quite rare, given that UNIT usually took great care to try to learn everything they could about the Time Lords and their friends. She didn't recall her father mentioning anything about this before his death.

The Hatter gave her a knowing look, "Something new to add to our records, I would imagine," she said lightly, before breaking into a large smile, "But back to the reason for why we're here, tell us about these cubes".

Kate pulled her gaze off Astra, instantly growing serious, "Yes," she nodded, turning and starting to lead them off down a long stone hallway, deeper into the Tower as the Time Lords and Amy followed close behind her, "Every cube across the whole world activated at the same moment".

"Now we're in business," the Doctor grinned, rubbing his hands together as they continued through the Tower, practically buzzing with activity as UNIT's soldiers and scientists moved around, "You sent us a message to my psychic paper," he glanced back over to Kate, eyeing her as they stepped down a small set of steps, "You know what? I'm almost impressed".

Kate gave him a pleased smile, while Amy looked around the large, spacious hallway they were standing inside, "Secret base beneath the Tower," she remarked, looking back over to Kate, "Hope we're not here because we know too much".

"Yes, I've got officers trained in beheading," Kate looked back to her, almost sounding serious, "Also, ravens of death," she gave the Time Lady a little wink, making the Hatter laugh as she turned to walk away.

Amy watched her go, "I like her," she said to the Time Lords, who both nodded in agreement, exchanging smiles as Astra clapped her hands, seeming to be wanting to let her own agreement known, before they turned to follow after Kate.

They followed her up another set of stairs and into a large, open chamber that was filled with activity, the room seeming to be acting as the main hub for the UNIT base as several individual, armoured cubicles positioned around the room, some containing people inside them with one of the cubes, while others just simply held a cube inside the middle of it, on view through the windows along the side of the cubicle. There were people moving around the space, most seeming to be scientists, taking note of what was happening within the cubicles, with armed soldiers on guard around the room.

"There are fifty being monitored," Kate informed them as she lead them further into the room, the Time Lords looked around curiously at the cubicles they passed by, "And more coming in all the time," she sighed slightly, glancing back to the Time Lords, "I don't know how useful it is. Every cube is behaving individually…" Amy moved to peer into one of the cubicles at the cube inside it, but when she touched the glass, flames sprung out of it, making her blink, "There's no meaningful pattern," Kate continued, still walking them through the cubicles, "Some respond to proximity," she pointed over to one cubicle, just as a bright blue light shone out of the cube, "Some create mood swings".

She gestured over to a nearby holding cell and the Time Lords approached the viewing window, watching in mild alarm as a woman sitting inside it with a cube in the middle of the white table, wept uncontrollably. Astra made a small noise of distress; her green eyes fixed worriedly on the woman inside as the Hatter lightly touched her cheek, trying to calm her before she could get to upset.

"Er, what's this one?" Amy called from the other side of the room, pointing at a cubicle that had a single cube sitting inside it, seemingly completely innocently.

"Try the door," Kate told her, nodding to the side of the cubical.

Amy looked curious and moved to grab the door handle, pulling it open, the air instantly filled by the 'Birdie Song' that seemed to be coming from the cube, playing quite loudly. The Hatter instantly broke into a grin and began swaying on the spot in time with the music, while Astra clapped in delight and tried to copy the Time Lady's one-handed dance movements. The Doctor watched fondly and began dancing along. Amy, on the other hand, simply stared at the cube, not seeming very impressed.

"On a loop!" Kate said loudly over the music, looking back over to the Time Lords, just before Amy closed the door and instantly cut off the music, grimacing in distaste.

"Aww," the Hatter pouted slightly, giving Amy a disappointed look, while Astra huffed and practically glared at the red head, "We were just starting to get into the groove of that, Amy!"

Amy shook her head at her, not the slightest bit apologetic.

Kate cleared her throat, drawing the Time Lords attention back over to her, "This is the latest," she said, turning and walking away from the cubicles to the other end of the room, which had a large desk that had several computer screens set up before it, a dark haired man with glasses monitoring them.

"Oh, dear," the Doctor frowned as they gathered around the screens, looking up at the information streaming across them, each screen showing something different, "Systems breach in the Pentagon, China, every African nation, the Middle East…"

"I've got governments screaming for explanations and no idea what to tell them," she shook her head helplessly, looking over to the Doctor and the Hatter, "I'm lost. We all are".

"No, you're not," the Hatter said firmly, giving her a reassuring smile, "You are _not_ lost, you're the daughter of Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, he would never have despaired and nor will I allow you to".

The Doctor smiled at Kate, who looked quite shocked by the Hatter's words, apparently she hadn't been on the receiving end of one of the Time Lady's confidence boosts before, "Kate Stewart," he remarked proudly, eyeing her, "Heading up UNIT, changing the way they work," he laughed very slightly, her father would have been so proud to see his only daughter following in his footsteps, more or less, "You really are your father's daughter. Why did you drop Lethbridge?" he grew serious, raising his eyebrows curiously.

"I didn't want any favours," she replied, before pausing, smiling slightly sadly, "Though, he guided me, even to the end. 'Science leads,' he always told me," she looked between them as the Time Lords exchanged quick little grins, "Said he'd learnt that from his old friends".

"I'm glad to know he listened," the Time Lady said quietly, feeling warmth, tinged with sadness spread through her chest, remembering Alistair. He had been one of the best men she had known, even though he had also been terribly frustrating to have to deal with at times. She missed him dearly, but seeing Kate following in her father's footsteps, carrying on his legacy, it was almost as if he was still with them, keeping an eye on everything.

"We don't let him down," the Doctor reached out and placed his hand on the Hatter's lower back, meeting her eyes as she nodded in agreement. He looked back to Kate, giving her a small wink, "We don't let this planet down".

Suddenly, one of the screens beeped and they all looked at it.

"They've stopped," the man monitoring the screens announced, his eyes widening behind his black framed glasses, "The cubes, across the world, they just shut down".

Kate frowned, looking up at the screens in confusion, "Active for forty seven minutes, and then they just _die_?" she shook her head, looking at the Time Lords.

"I think 'dormant' would be a better word for it," the Hatter corrected lightly, but her expression was grim, looking intently at the screen, "Just like before the cubes activated".

"Then why shut down?" Amy questioned, looking puzzled.

"I don't know," the Doctor shook his head, and the Hatter sighed, shrugging slightly, feeling just as clueless as everyone else. He looked off in the distance, "I don't know. I need to think…" he scrunched up his face suddenly, "I need some air. Who has an underground base?" he turned away from the computers, holding his hands out on either side of himself, "Terrible ventilation".

He began to stride off through the room, throwing the cubicles quick looks as he passed them as the Hatter paused to give Kate a quick, apologetic look before moving to follow after him, Amy jogging to keep up.

…

The Hatter lightly kicked her legs as they dangled over the ledge running around the banks of the Thames, the water black in the night, lightly rippling beneath their feet. Astra was sitting on her lap, sucking on the Time Lady's necklace as she gazed up at the few stars that had managed to break through all the light pollution of the city, seeming quite content to simply look at them, even if the view wasn't quite as magnificent as the one from the TARDIS doors when actually flying amongst those stars. The Doctor was sitting next the Hatter, looking out across the river to the large buildings on the other side of the bank, while Amy sat on his right.

"The moment they arrived," the Doctor sighed after a long lapse of silence, "We should have made sure they were all collected and burned. That is what we _should_ have done".

"Yes," the Hatter agreed quietly, titling her head so that she could rest it on his shoulder, her hat sitting on the ledge beside her, "It was our responsibility and we failed, we might have avoided all of this mess".

"How?" Amy frowned, looking at them both, "Nobody would have listened".

The Hatter sighed and closed her eyes briefly, knowing that she had a point there. They had both believed the cubes to be a possible threat, it was why they hadn't brought Astra with them in the first place, but then they had fallen into the same trap that the humans had. They had gotten to comfortable with the cubes, to used to them that they had forgotten to listen to their first instinct of danger. And now, the humans would possibly pay and they had brought Astra into this completely unknown situation.

"You're thinking of stopping, aren't you?" the Doctor asked after a moment, looking directly at Amy. The Hatter lifted her head from his shoulder, looking around him to Amy, neither of them having dared to ask what they had already known for months now. Somehow, asking had felt like making it real, but they couldn't ignore it forever. He eyed her closely, "You and Rory".

"No," Amy quickly shook her head, blinking rapidly as she looked between them, "I mean, we haven't made a decision…"

"But you have been thinking about it," the Hatter cut across her, giving her a sad, understanding look, her voice soft.

Amy hesitated, looking torn, "Maybe," she eventually said, and the Doctor looked away from her, "I don't know," she added quickly, looking at them both, pleading for them to understand, " _We_ don't know. Well, our lives have changed so much," she looked back out across the water, "But there was a time, there were years, when I couldn't live without either of you," she smiled slightly embarrassedly, looking down at her lap briefly, "Um, when just the whole everyday thing would drive me crazy. But…" she looked back up to them, meeting their eyes, "Since you dropped us back here, since you gave us this house, you know, we built a _life_ ," she shook her head slowly, not dropping her gaze from them, her voice growing softer, "But I don't know if I can have both".

The Hatter wished she could reach out and take Amy's hand, reassure her without needing to say the words to let her know that it was okay, this whole thing was a good thing, even if it pained them all to have to admit that this chapter was coming to a close. Her hearts broke at the thought of Amy and Rory deciding to move on, but at the same time she also felt proud to have known them and honoured to have been able to be a part of their journey with them, and they would always be incredibly special to herself and the Doctor, not just for their friendship and their adventures together, but because of all that they had done to help bring Astra safely into the Universe when she had come inches towards death. Sadly, however, she knew that while she was able take comfort in the idea of Amy and Rory leaving them to live their own human lives, she knew the Doctor would not feel the same way.

The Doctor stared at Amy, frowning deeply at her words, unable to understand why they felt as though they needed to separate their ordinary, human lives to the adventures that they had in the TARDIS, "Why?" he asked, trying hard not to sound like a frustrated child.

"Because…" Amy paused, considering her words carefully, looking at him sadly, "They pull each other," he looked away, ducking his head, and her voice grew more confidant as she continued, "Because they pull at me, and because the travelling is starting to feel like running away".

"That's not what it is," the Hatter said quietly, but even over the muted, distant sounds of the city and the gentle lapping of the water below them her voice could easily be heard. She met Amy's eyes firmly, but her face was gentle, "I understand why you would view it as that, but it's not, truly".

"Oh, come on," she scoffed, giving them both a pointed, knowing look, "Look at the two of you, four days in the lounge and the Doctor goes crazy, while you, Hatter, just…shut down".

"We're not running away," the Doctor told her firmly, looking back across to Amy, while the Hatter lightly shrugged and began toying with Astra's thickening hair, "But this is one corner, of one country, in one continent, on one planet, that's a corner of a galaxy, that's a corner of a Universe that is forever growing and shrinking and creating and destroying and _never_ remaining the same for a single millisecond. And there is so much, _so_ much to see, Amy," he pointed at her as his speech grew more passionate, Astra switching her attention from off the stars to eagerly watch her father, while the Hatter smiled. He looked back out across the water, frowning, "Because it goes _so_ fast. We're not running away from things, we're running to them before they flare and fade forever," he looked back to Amy, reaching out to cover the Hatter's hand as it rested on the ledge beside him, "And it's all right," he went on quietly, sighing very slightly, "Our lives won't run the same. They _can't_. One day, soon maybe, you'll stop," he glanced back over to the Time Lady, who nodded sadly, "We've known for a while".

Amy looked down at her lap, emotion flickering across her face as she seemed to struggle to maintain her composer, before she lifted her head to look back to him, "Then why do you keep coming back for us?"

The Hatter laughed softly, as though what Amy had asked was somehow absurd, "Oh, Amy," she shook her head, giving her a fond look, "Why do you think?" Amy blinked slightly, looking mildly confused, "You and Rory, you matter so much to us, all three of us…" she added the last part with a pointed nodded down to Astra in her lap, who cooed happily.

"You're seared into our hearts, Amelia Pond," the Doctor agreed, giving Amy a small, sad little smile, "You always will be," he looked away from her, back across the water, "We're running to _you_ , and Rory, before you…fade from us".

Amy's eyes flickered between them, before she slowly turned to face the water again, tilting her head to lean it against the Doctor's shoulder as silence lapsed amongst them, "Don't be nice to me," she muttered after a moment, "I don't want you to be nice to me".

"Yeah, you do, Pond," he said affectionately, turning his head very slightly to lightly rest against the top of hers, while the Hatter watched them fondly, "You're just like Astra, you always get what you want…" the Time Lady froze, her eyes widening slowly in realisation, "The Hatter says I spoil her, but…" he rambled, totally oblivious.

"Doctor!" the Hatter sharply nudged his side with her elbow, making him grunt midsentence with a pained grimace, shooting her a confused look. She hardly seemed to notice, her eyes very bright and wide as she looked at him urgently, "You just said it! They got exactly what they wanted…"

The Doctor blinked slowly, his mind taking a split second to register exactly what she had said, before he suddenly inhaled sharply and reached up to smack both his cheeks, jostling Amy and making her lift her head, looking at them in confusion and alarm.

"What?" she asked quickly, looking over to the Hatter, "Who did?"

"The cubes!" the Doctor held his hands out either side of him, shaking his head at his own slowness, while the Hatter was already carefully moving to start swinging her navy blue, tight clad legs over the side of the ledge, balancing Astra in her arms, "That's why they stopped," he moved to follow his wife's movements, "Come on, Amy".

Amy frowned, still feeling terribly confused and a little alarmed by how suddenly their moods had shifted, though she supposed that after all these years, she really should be used to it. She moved to follow after the Time Lords as they climbed back down onto the footpath, already setting off towards the entrance to the Tower, while Astra made a small annoyed noise that Amy suspected was probably something to do with the baby wanting to continue her star gazing. Soon enough, however, they were hurrying through the hallways of the Tower, the Time Lords not seeming to need to pause to ask for directions, following the same path that they had entered via, soon finding Kate making her way back towards the main room with the cubicles.

"Kate!" the Doctor called, dashing up the small set of steps to meet Kate, who stopped and turned towards them, surprise crossing her face. Apparently, something in their expressions must have told her that something serious was going on, because she quickly grew concerned, "Before they shut down, they scanned everything," he told her hurriedly, starting to lead to the way down a second set of steps, talking as he went, "From your medical limits to your military response patterns".

The Hatter nodded quickly, her expression grim, "They've been waiting, biding their time for just the right moment to strike," she said, adjusting Astra on her hip as she reached the bottom the steps, starting to head off down the hallway, "They've been assessing everything about planet Earth and all of its inhabitants, right from the smallest germ…" she trailed off, just as the power cut off suddenly, leaving them standing in the dark. She blinked quickly, clutching Astra closer to her as the Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket, scanning the area, "That power surge of activity, Kate," she looked back over to Kate's startled face in the shadows of the hallway, "That was the cubes doing what they've been waiting all this time to do, collect information…for what end remains to be seen," she finished warily.

The Doctor slowly lowered his sonic screwdriver, but kept the tip lit so that it filled the space with a bluish green light, knowing that Astra would get upset if they remained in the dark much longer. She, just like most children, disliked the dark. He looked around quickly at the lack of lighting, "Problem with the power?" he asked, looking back to Kate.

"Not possible," Kate replied, frowning slightly, "We've got back-ups".

The Doctor exchanged a look with the Time Lady, neither of them looking surprised nor pleased, "Hmm…" he hummed, turning and continuing off down the rest of the hallway, still scanning all the while, leading them up another set of stone steps and back into the main chamber with the cubicles and the rest of UNIT's HQ, which was just as dark as the rest of the Tower.

"Shh, my darling," the Hatter murmured soothingly to Astra, who buried her head into her shoulder, complaining about how dark it was.

"Doctor?" Amy called suddenly, having wondered over to peer into one of the viewing windows of the cubicles, "Hatter? Look…" she pointed through the window.

The Doctor and the Hatter instantly moved to her side, looking through the window to see that a large, bright blue '7' was lit up on the sides of the cube sitting within the cubicle. In fact, from a brief glance around the rest of the room, the Hatter could already see that the other cubes were all displaying the same thing.

The Doctor flashed the sonic screwdriver at the cube, frowning deeply, "What?" he shook his head, not understanding what was going on.

"Why do they all say seven?" Kate questioned, looking around the darkened room.

"Seven," he repeated quickly, lowering the sonic screwdriver, looking quickly to the Time Lady, "Seven, what's important about seven? Aside from our wedding anniversary…"

"Somehow I doubt that's it, sweetheart," the Hatter shook her head absently, though she couldn't help the faint smile that crossed her lips, "Seven…seven days in the week, for Earth, anyway. Seven wonders in the world…"

"Seven streams of the River Ota," he continued, nodding along with her, "Seven sides of a cube…" he turned back to the cube inside the cubicle, scanning it again with the sonic.

Amy frowned, giving him an odd look, "A cube has six sides," she corrected him.

"You're forgetting the inside," the Time Lady told her lightly, eyeing the cube closely.

Suddenly, there was a soft clunk and the number on the box shifted to a six, just as all the backup lights switched on around the room. The three of them exchanged a quick look, before the Time Lords turned away from the cubicle and began to walk through the room towards where the computer screens were all set up at the very end of the room, Amy and Kate trailing behind them.

"Okay," the brunet began as they walked through the room, her expression thoughtful as she lightly shifted Astra on her hip, "So it obviously must be a countdown…"

"Not in minutes," Kate remarked, checking her watch briefly.

"Why would it be minutes?" the Doctor shot her a quick look, stopping midstride to turn to face her, his expression stern, "Kate, we have to get humanity away from those cubes".

"We're still totally blind about these cubes," the Hatter added, absently trying to gently pull her necklace away from Astra's grabbing hands, sighing grimly, "We can't know what the end result of these cubes finally reaching zero will be, so we need to be safe. Start spreading the word, let people know that they need to stay away from the cubes".

"News channels, websites, radio, text message…"

"Tumblr," the Time Lady nodded quickly, "For Rassilon's sake, even Twitter would be helpful," she shook her head, really not fond of the site, "Just get the word out that these cubes are dangerous".

"Okay, but why is this starting _now_?" Amy cut in, looking between them with a frown, "I mean, the cubes arrived _months_ ago. Why wait this long?"

The Doctor exchanged a look with the Hatter, "Because they're clever," he said, turning back towards Amy and Kate, who was listening intently to every word that they were saying, "Allow people enough time to collect them, take them into their _homes_ , their _lives_. Humans…" he shook his head, waving a hand towards both women, "The great early adopters. And then, wham!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands together in a loud snap, "Profile every inch of Earth's existence".

"Discover how best to attack us," Kate realised, horror crossing her face.

"Get the information out any way you can," the Doctor ordered her, already turning and walking over towards the monitor screens, "Go!" he quickly began typing something into the keyboard, since the Hatter only had one hand free, "Right, every cube activated," he muttered as he typed, frowning up at the screens, "There must be signals, energy fluctuations on a colossal scale, there must be some trace".

The Hatter ran her eyes across the screen that showed a map of the world, but not one single energy fluctuation or signal was reading as high, everything appeared to be just as she would expect it to be. You would never have thought that anything strange was occurring all around the globe, and yet it so clearly was.

"There should be _something_ ," she commented, narrowing her eyes, searching for even the smallest spike or odd little reading, but there was nothing off, "Unless they're extremely, annoyingly clever, which apparently they are…which is just not fair," she huffed, really, really not liking just how sneaky and clever these aliens were being, that was supposed to be _their_ job, not the bad guys.

"We need to think of all the variables," the Doctor turned back around, glancing at the Time Lady, who nodded in agreement before looking over to Kate and Amy, "All the possibilities, okay? Go, go, go, go, go!" he waved a hand at Kate, who quickly turned and hurried off to start spreading the word.

A few minutes passed as the Doctor and the Hatter continued their search for any signal or strange energy fluctuations, when a small screen popped up on one of the screens of a male news reporter.

"This is the national security alert," the man reported, "The Government advises that members of the public dispose of all cubes. If there are cubes inside your house, remove them immediately".

The Hatter sighed as she glanced back over to one of the windows of the cubicles, just in time to see the number of the cube change from '5' to '4'. They wouldn't have much longer until it hit zero and she dreaded to think of what might happen when it did, but she also knew that they needed to know…her eyes flickered across to the Doctor, meeting his eyes, knowing he was thinking the same thing. They needed to know exactly what was going on with the cubes once they hit zero and so far, none of their remote scientific testing or scans had done anything to tell them what was going on with the cubes, the only thing that might give them an edge, as much as she hated it, was to play guinea pig themselves.

"Rock, paper, scissors, sweetheart?" she suggested, raising her eyebrows.

….

The Hatter frowned deeply as she stood beside the Doctor, peering through the glass of one of the cubicles at the cube sitting within on top of a square white table, while Amy and Kate stood just behind them, neither of them looking very pleased. The Time Lady had ended up losing rock, paper, scissors, much to her annoyance and the Doctor's obvious relief, knowing that the Hatter would be nice and safe from the cube, even if he had to go into the cubicle and face it by himself without having any idea what might happen once it hit zero. Rock, paper, scissors turned out to be a excellent way of avoiding lengthy discussions and arguments over who should do something stupid or dangerous.

"Doctor, please," Amy tried, eyeing the Doctor's back with a worried expression, "You don't have to do this".

"She's right," Kate added, nodding quickly, "You don't have to be in there. We can do this remotely".

"Perhaps, but it would hardly be accurate," the Hatter sighed, though she still didn't look any more pleased by the idea of the Doctor going into that box with that completely unknown, highly dangerous and possibly even deadly cube. The one comfort for her right now was that the Doctor wasn't human, so she hoped that it might not affect him in the same way as it might a human, but it was a slim hope.

The Doctor flashed the Time Lady a quick little grin before leaning in to peak her lips and placing a brief kiss on top of Astra's head, "See you after, dear," he said cheerfully, wiggling his fingers at them as he began to move towards the cubicle door.

"You better," the Time Lady said firmly, adjusting Astra more securely on her hip, the baby pouting at the idea of not being able to go with her father to see what the funny black box would do.

He reached the cubicle door and pulled it open, the airlock seal hissing lightly as the lock disengaged. He calmly stepped inside the tight, enclosed space, allowing the door to close behind him as he took a seat on a small stool before the table, eyeing the cube sitting in the middle of the table, which was now reading '2'. He looked at it for a long moment before reaching out to lightly spin the cube, making the Hatter frown slightly, tightening her hold on Astra as anxiety began washing over her. The Doctor looked back up to them through the window, giving them a little reassuring grin, before sitting back in his chair, watching for a long moment before the cube clicked down to '1'. It felt like it barely took thirty seconds before hitting '0,' and the Hatter held her breathe, her eyes fixed on the cube as the blue number displayed disappeared and the top of the cube slid open smoothly.

The Doctor smirked slightly, staring at the cube, excitement filling his eyes, "Geronimo," he said softly.

Kate edged closer to the viewing window, looking as tense as the Hatter felt, "What's happening?" she asked, her eyes flickering between the open cube and the Doctor.

Slowly, they watched nervously as the Doctor carefully began to sit forward, leaning over the table to peer down into the depths of the cube. Astra shifted impatiently in the Hatter's arms, looking more grumpy about not knowing what was inside the box then tense, like the others.

"Well?" Amy called, when the Doctor didn't move, "What's in there?"

"Sweetheart?" the Hatter frowned, her heart racing with trepidation.

The Doctor shook his head, still peering down at the cube, "There is nothing in here," he told them, his tone grim and tinged with frustration.

"Er, well, that's good…" Amy said slowly, glancing at Kate and the Time Lady, who blinked slightly at the news, "It's not…it's not bombs, it's not aliens…"

"Why?" he demanded, shaking his head again as he looked back up to them, his eyes landing on the Hatter, "Why is there nothing inside? _Why_?" he lightly hit the top of the table before moving towards the cubical door, "It doesn't make sense".

"Something had to have happened," the Hatter said in frustration and confusion, hearing the cubicle door hiss open, "You don't just…drop cubes all over the Earth and make them count down to _nothing_ , that's simply not logical," she wordlessly untangled Astra's fist from around the silver chain of her necklace and passed the baby to Amy, who barely even blinked as she instantly settled the baby onto her own hip, so used to taking Astra for the Time Lords when they needed that it was almost like an automatic response now. The Hatter turned and began quickly marching back over towards the monitors where the glasses wearing researcher was watching the screens, "You there…sorry, didn't catch you name earlier…" she called as she neared the man, the Doctor catching up with them as they gathered around the screens, "Are all the other cubes reacting the same way around the world?" she looked up at the live, black and white security footage being played across several of the screens, each featuring a different location around the city.

"They're empty," Kate hurried after them, looking hopefully to the Time Lords, "We're safe, right?"

"Ah, no, no, no, we are very far from safe," the Doctor shook his head, his eyes scanning all of the screens intently, "All along, every action has been deliberate. Why draw attention to the cubes if they don't contain something?"

The Hatter swallowed, hard, sickening dread washing over her, "We should never have brought Astra with us," she breathed, horrified that they hadn't listened to their first instincts, that they had allowed themselves to grow complacent.

"Look," Amy said suddenly, her voice sounding off. They looked at the lower computer screen that she was pointing at, only to see the people on the footage start to clutch at their chests in pain in the middle of the footpath, cubes littering the side of the walkways, slowly collapsing onto the floor. More and more people followed suit in different locations, each one reacting much the same before slowly falling onto the ground.

"They're CCTV feeds from across the world," the man told them, frowning up at the screens, showing more and more people collapsing, "They're showing the same".

"People are dying!" Kate gasped, appalled as she leaned closer to the screens, while Astra whimpered in concern.

The Hatter's eyes widened, staring at the screens as the people had already collapsed remained on the ground, showing no sign of life, when she suddenly remembered the Doctor…her head snapping around to him so fast that her neck cracked painfully.

"What?" the Doctor shook his head, apparently not having caught on yet, still looking at the screens in confusion, "They can't be dying. _How_?" he looked at the man, "How are they dying?"

"Doctor…" the Time Lady began, urgency lacing her tone, reaching out to grab his arm.

Kate looked back to the glasses man, "I want information on how people are being affected," she ordered him, and the man nodded, quickly typing something into the keyboard before him.

"The cubes brought people close together," the Doctor frowned, looking at the Hatter, trying to think, "They opened and then…"

"Doctor!" the Hatter snapped loudly, grabbing both of his shoulders, her eyes wide, "If the cubes are affecting people, then what about…"

Suddenly, the Doctor spasmed and cried out in pain, his hand flying to his chest, making everyone jump and whirl around in alarm, Astra crying at the sight. The Hatter reacted on instinct and pulled him closer to her, very nearly collapsing onto the floor as she desperately tried to soften the impact to him as he squirmed in pain, still clutching to his chest over his left heart.

"Hatter, what's happening?" Amy asked worriedly, her eyes wide as she tried to hold Astra in her arms, the baby crying very loudly and struggling, wanting to get to her father.

The Time Lady hardly seemed to hear her, focused on her husband, "Doctor, talk to me!" she urged him, one hand reaching out to cradle his head, turning it towards him, noting the way he was grabbing at his chest, "Is it your heart?"

"Agh…yes!" he grimaced painfully, squeezing his eyes closed against the pain as the computer behind them began beeping over Astra's cries, "One heart, only one heart! Other one's not working".

"Hospitals are logging a global surge in heart failures," the man announced, "Cardiac arrests".

"Blimey…" the Hatter breathed, wincing as she stroked the Doctor's face comfortingly, knowing well enough how painful only having one heart could be. But the Doctor was lucky, he had two hearts, the humans didn't, the Doctor would be able to live for a little while without both hearts working, but the humans…they had to act, fast.

"Okay," Amy said hurriedly, taking a step towards the Time Lords, still half-wrestling with Astra to try and stop her from trying to get to her parents, "We need to get you to the hospital, Doctor!"

"Oh, no, no, no, no!" the Doctor shook his head quickly, cringing painfully as he managed to open his eyes to look up to her, struggling to smile, seeing how upset Astra was getting, "Just a short circuit," he said flippantly.

The Hatter gave him a concerned look before gently letting go of his head, feeling slightly guilty as he began to try and sit himself up right with a pained groan, grabbing at his chest, but she knew that the only way to stop this whole thing was if they got back to business, and right now the Doctor wasn't exactly in the best state to be doing much of anything. Fortunately, she was more than capable.

"There's got to be a pattern," she said as she moved back over to the screens, her eyes running over the monitors, desperately trying to shut out the sound of Astra's cries for her father and the Doctor's pained winces, reminding herself that she needed to focus in order to help them both and everyone else suffering, "Something we're missing. Just before the cubes opened, bring up the scans of the electrical currents of the cubes," she leaned closer to screen as the man brought up the data, quickly pointing at the graph that showed a significant rise in the current right before the cubes opened, "Yes, there!"

Kate's eyes widened, staring at the graph, "No!"

"Afraid so," the Time Lady sighed, straightening from the screen, turning back around to look at the Doctor, "It was the power cut, turning it off was…" she paused, grimacing as the Doctor gave another pained gasp, before forcing herself to keep going, "…was the signal to the cubes. Of course, when the cubes began opening, people were naturally curious and leaned closer to get a look, putting them within range of a pure electrical surge to come out of the cubes and directly into the nearest human's heart," she glanced back over to Kate and Amy, speaking very quickly, "They've been monitoring you lot for months, they know how important the heart is, how vital. What better way to kill a human but aim for the heart?"

"Ow!" the Doctor suddenly bared his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut, "Crikey Moses".

"You're doing really well, sweetheart," the Hatter told him gently, giving him a comforting smile, though she knew it looked more like a pained grimace then a true smile. She hated seeing him in so much pain, "It's going to be okay, I promise".

He laughed, though it sounded slightly chocked as he managed to open his eyes enough to look back at her, "Making promises, dear?" he panted slightly, "You're not worried about me, are you?"

"I'm always worried about you, sweetheart," she sighed, wishing she could try to match his attempt at humour right now, "One of us ought to be," she glanced over to Astra, pleased to see that she had stopped crying, but she was still looked very red cheeked and worried.

"The scans you set running," Kate called suddenly, drawing the Hatter's attention back to the monitors, "The transmitter location. It's found them".

The Hatter moved closer to the screens, looking at the map of the world that had seven, blinking bright yellow dots scattered across the map in different countries, "Seven again," she noted with a frown, "Why is seven so important? Seven stations, seven minutes, but _why_? It can't be a coincidence…"

"Argh!" the Doctor cried out, making her jump and spin around to see him thumping his hand on his chest, tilting his head back in pain, "Ow, ow, how do you people manage?" he looked over to Amy, pulling a face, actually managing to make Astra giggle, "One heart, it is pitiful".

Amy rolled her eyes, but at least she didn't have to try and stop Astra from leaping out of her arms any more.

The Hatter struggled to hold back a smile, turning back towards the screens, running her eyes over the data again, "We're dealing with a wormhole, bringing two dimensions together, judging by these readings," she reached out and began typing something into the computer, frowning deeply as she worked, shaking her head, "Each of these seven markers are one of the dimensions doorways, if you will, which means there surely has to be one close by in London…and there we go," she nodded, hitting a button and making the map zoom in on the marker in London, frame by frame.

Amy moved to peer at the screen, blinking as a slightly blurry image of a large building appeared on the screen in the middle of London city, rimmed by a yellow marker, "It's the hospital where Rory works," she said, her head snapping up to the Hatter.

The Time Lady sighed, "Of course it is".

….

The Hatter threw the Doctor a worried, fearful look as they moved through the entrance of the hospital that Rory apparently worked at, one arm wrapped around his waist while he draped his arm over her shoulders, one hand pressed against his chest, his movements growing more sluggish the longer that they went with only one of his hearts working. Amy was following close on their heels, Astra still cradled in her arms, thankfully much calmer then she had been at the Tower after the Hatter had the chance to reassure her that daddy was going to be just fine, failing to mention just how serious this whole situation was, but it had calmed Astra and that was what mattered. Kate and several armed UNIT soldiers walked just behind them. The hospital appeared to be very busy with people rushing about the hallways, so busy, in fact, that most people hardly seemed to even notice them.

"Do we know how many deaths there have been?" the Hatter asked Kate over her shoulder, dreading the answer.

"We don't know," Kate replied grimly, "We think it could be a third of the population".

"Rassilon…" she breathed, her eyes widening in horror at the though. All of those innocent lives, and how many of those were children?

"Kate, we have to find the wormhole," the Doctor panted slightly, his hands still pressed to his chest, trying hard not to lean all of his weight on the Hatter, "But the attacks could still happen. Tell the world," he looked back to her as Kate listened intently, coming to a stop in the middle of the hallway, "Tell them how to deal with this. The world needs your leadership right now".

Kate nodded, looking determined, "I'll do my best".

"We know you will," the Hatter smiled at her, giving her a little wink, "We have every confidence in you, just as we would your father. Good luck".

Kate stood slightly taller and gave them one last nod before turning and heading off down the hallway, taking her soldiers with her. They watched her go for a moment before the Doctor suddenly cried out in pain, pulling himself away from the Hatter out of fear that he might accidently send them both crashing to the floor as he reached out to steady himself against the wall beside him, hunched over. The Time Lady winced in sympathy and concern, soothingly rubbing his back, wishing she could take his pain away.

"Okay," Amy stared at the Doctor, alarmed, "How long are you going to…" she began to say, only to pause and glance at Astra in her arms, mouthing the word 'last' as she looked back up to the Time Lords, "…with only one heart?" she finished aloud, Astra watching her father with wide, frightened eyes.

"Not much longer," the Doctor winced.

The Hatter grabbed his arm and draped it back over her shoulder, wrapping her other arm around his waist, supporting him as she gently began pulling him away from the wall, "We need to keep moving," she insisted, desperately just trying to remain focused and not allow herself to grow emotional, because once that happened and she allowed herself to fully think about just how worried she was for the Doctor, she would be no good to anyone, "We have to find the wormhole portal and put a stop to this whole mess before anyone else is hurt…"

The Doctor gritted his teeth and nodded, reaching into his inner pocket of his blazer to pull out his sonic screwdriver, activating it as they began to slowly move down the corridor. The device gave a funny whir and he stopped, "Hello…" he checked the readings, "Hello!" he suddenly turned towards where a young girl was standing just a few steps away from them with her back to them, staring blankly ahead of her. He and the Hatter moved closer to the girl, scanning her with the sonic, "You are giving off some very strange signals…" he increased the scan on the girl, when a blue light lit up beneath the girls skin, just like the same light as the cubes.

"Oh, my God!" Amy gasped, looking quite shocked.

"She's an outlier droid," the Hatter blinked, eyeing the girl closely, "They must have planted her here on Earth months ago, back when the cubes first arrived, monitoring everything for them without anyone being any the wiser".

"If I can shut her down, I can…" the Doctor began thoughtfully, flashing his sonic at the droid again. The droid swayed on the spot and he and the Time Lady reached out to grab her before she fell, "It's alright, it's alright…" they gently lowered her onto the floor, leaning her up against the corridor wall, when the Doctor suddenly jolted and staggered backwards into the wall, sliding down it, "I can't!" he cried out, his face screwed up in pain as the Hatter fell onto her knees beside him, her face white as paper, "I can't do it, Hatter," he desperately grabbed for her hand, clutching it tightly, "I need both hearts…"

"We can figure this out, sweetheart," the Hatter bit her lip, squeezing his hand so tightly that she imagined it was probably quite painful, "Just…hold on, for a little bit longer".

Amy looked around frantically for something, anything that might be of use, after all, they were in a hospital right now, surely something had to be able to save the Doctor, when she caught sight of a small emergency trolley sitting pushed up against the wall behind her, a portable defibrillator sitting on top of it. She whirled back around and quickly passed Astra down to the Time Lady, who gave her a startled look as she automatically wrapped her arms around Astra, who was squirming and trying to get to the Doctor, watching in puzzlement as Amy spun back around and dashed over to the trolley, grabbing the defibrillator off it.

"Alright," she said as she dropped the bag onto the floor beside the Doctor, the Hatter inhaling sharply as she finally caught on to what she was planning, "Desperate measures".

The Doctor looked at the bag and his eyes widened in horror, just as Amy knelt down on the floor, reaching for the bag, "What?" he exclaimed, trying to almost squirm away from Amy, even though he was in no state to be doing so, "No, no, no, no! That won't work, I'm a Time Lord! Hatter, stop her!" he looked urgently to the Time Lady, still trying to edge away from Amy, though he wasn't getting very far.

The Hatter winced slightly and turned Astra around in her arms, putting the baby's back to the scene unfolding, "Actually, Doctor…it's quite a brilliant idea," she said gently, giving him a sympathetic look.

"What? No! Bad plan, very, very, not good, bad plan!"

Amy completely ignored his protests and ripped his shirt open, exposing his bare chest.

"Good thing I'm not the jealous type, Amy," the Hatter remarked, suddenly feeling a great deal lighter and less concerned for the Doctor now that she knew that they had a way to get his heart working again, even if she imagined it would be a little unpleasant.

She flashed her a quick grin and stuck the plastic pads onto the Doctor's chest, as the small machine showed on the instructions before grabbing the paddles of the defibrillator, giving the machine time to power up for the charge, "Alright, clear!" she announced, before pressing the paddles down onto the plastic pads, shocking his heart.

The Doctor entire body jerked as electrical current jolted his left heat, giving a loud yelp, "Woo!" he shouted, before sitting upright so fast that the Hatter had to scoot backwards to avoid him accidently whacking his head into hers or Astra's. He practically bounced onto his feet, actually dancing slightly on the spot, while Amy and the Hatter exchanged a look, the Time Lady getting onto her own feet, "Oh! Ooh! Welcome back, lefty!" he cheered, making Astra and her mother laugh, "Whoa-ho!" he suddenly whirled around to the Hatter, kissing her rather passionately before she even had a chance to blink, grinning at her as he pulled back, "Two hearts! Back in the game, dear!"

The Hatter cleared her throat, feeling her cheeks warming, "Apparently, so," she said, her voice higher than normal and a little breathless.

He grinned and winked at her, looking far too smug for the Time Lady's liking before he swopped down to press a affectionate kiss on top of Astra's head, the baby rewarding him with a wide smile in return, "And my little star!" he lightly touched her cheek, "See? Daddy's all better now, thanks to Auntie Pond, which reminds me…" he whirled back around to Amy, kissing her forehead before suddenly pointing sternly at her, "Never do that to me again".

The Time Lady raised her eyebrows, "The shirt ripping or saving your life part?"

He opened his mouth, only to pause and turn back to her, pointing at her, "Cheeky".

She laughed and shook her head, Astra giggling in delight now that her father didn't appear to be in any danger, "Come on, you two," she said over her shoulder, turning to start striding off down the hallway, "Back to saving the planet".

The Doctor and Amy quickly fell into step with her, the Doctor using his sonic screwdriver to lead the way through the twists and turns of the hospitals busy corridors, before finding themselves standing before a set of bright yellow lift doors at the end of a completely deserted hallway, which in itself was rather suspicious. Everywhere they had looked, doctors and nurses were rushing about, while members of the public panicked and demanded answers as to what was happening to their loved ones who had been brought in after being affected by the cubes. The lift doors dinged open, revealing a seemingly innocent, empty lift.

"Ah," Amy sighed slightly, not looking overly impressed as the Doctor scanned the inside the lift, "Portal to another dimension in a goods lift?"

The Doctor checked the results on the sonic, "The energy signals converge here," he commented, frowning as he looked around, slipping his sonic back inside his blazer pocket, "Does seem a bit cramped, though," he stepped over the threshold of the doors, eyeing the back wall as the Hatter and Amy joined him. He slowly reached out and poked the wall, only instead of being solid, it rippled like water. He grinned, glancing back to Amy and the Time Lady, "Shall we step through the looking glass?"

The Hatter broke into a delighted smile at his reference to her favourite Earth book, linking her free arm with his, "I love you, sweetheart," she told him, making him grin widely.

Amy sighed slightly to herself, though she was more then used to their antics by now and simply moved around to stand on the Doctor's other side, linking her arm through his. Together, they stepped forward through the rippling surface of the wormhole and straight onto the main deck of a large, darkened spaceship, the room filled with several large slab-like benches around the room that had people lying on them, seemingly unconscious. Astra made a small noise and snuggled her face into the Hatter's neck, the Time Lady letting go of the Doctor's arm to soothingly rub her back.

"Where are we?" Amy asked, looking around the dimly lit space curiously.

"We're in orbit," the Doctor replied, looking around, too, noting a large window showing the Earth outside, a pale blue hue surrounding it, "One dimension to the left".

"You can taste it in the air," the brunet added, glancing at Amy.

Amy looked back around the room, only for her eyes to widen, "Rory!" she suddenly shouted, dashing across the room to where Rory was lying on one of the benches, Brian on what appeared to be a hospital gurney beside him.

The Hatter quickly followed, checking Rory's pulse, sighing in relief as she found it beating steadily in his wrist, before moving to check Brian, "They've just been knocked out," she reassured Amy.

The Doctor began looking for something in his pocket, "Ah," he said, pulling out a small vial of something, "Soborian smelling salts," he tossed the vial to Amy, who caught it easily and started unscrewing the lid. He pointed a warning finger at her, "Outlawed in seven galaxies".

"Let's just hope Rory isn't allergic to cats or shellfish," the Hatter muttered with a small, disproving look in the Doctor's direction.

Amy barely even seemed to be listening, focused on getting the lid off and waving the vial beneath Rory's nose. Rory suddenly jolted awake, sitting upright, just before something came flying through the air towards them and they automatically ducked, hitting the wall with a spray of sparks, Astra giving a startled cry as the Hatter tried shielding her from any possible shots.

"Whoa!" the Doctor wrapped his arm around the Time Lady and Astra, pulling them down beside the slab that Rory had been lying on, while Amy and Rory ducked down on the other side, "Whoa! What kind of welcome do you call that?"

The Hatter nudged his side with her elbow and nodded over towards where a man had appeared on the other side of the room, dressed in black robes, with a worn, wrinkled face. She quickly looked over the top of the slab to Amy and Rory, "You two need to get all of these people out of here," she ordered them hurriedly, "Take Astra with you. Go!" she threw the robed figure a quick look as she rose and carefully passed Astra over the slab to Rory, who stood to take her.

Amy stood, too, frowning deeply, "What are you two going to do?" she questioned, moving around to their side as the Doctor began to push Brian's bed forward. She quickly moved to wave the vial beneath his nose to wake him.

"Absolutely no idea," the Doctor shook his head, still pushing the gurney, just as Brian jolted awake and sat upright, blinking in confusion as he looked around.

"We'll think of something clever, no doubt," the Hatter said with a flippant shrug, flashing Amy and Rory a grin, Astra pouting in Rory's arms, not in the slightest bit pleased about the fact that she was going to miss out on the excitement, "You two just focus on getting everyone safely through the portal," she pointed at them.

Amy and Rory exchanged a quick look, neither of them looking overly pleased with the idea, though they could hardly argue over the idea of helping all of these defenceless people. Rory passed Astra over to his father, who still seemed rather shocked and puzzled over what had happened, before helping Amy to wheel the gurney back towards the portal, just before another shot was fired at the Time Lords, narrowly missing them as they ducked, turning towards the robed figure as they slowly rose.

"So many of them," the figure began, speaking slowly in a low voice, "Crawling the planet, seeping into every corner".

The figure suddenly vanished in a flash of blue light, only to reappear on the other side of the room, standing before a set of seven hexagonal shaped screens. The Doctor and the Hatter exchanged a look, reaching out to take each other's hand as they slowly neared the figure, moving around to look through the screens at the figure standing on the other side, merely a hologram.

"This is…" the Hatter slowly shook her head, staring at the figure in amazement and curiosity, "This can't be possible," she looked quickly to the Doctor, who looked just as surprised as her, "I always thought the Shakri was simply a myth used by Gallifreyan parents to keep their children from misbehaving. I do recall my nanny threatening me more than once when I was little".

"Same," the Doctor agreed quietly, turning back towards the figure, who smiled in amusement.

Behind them, out of the corner of her eye, the Hatter gave Amy and Rory a very small nod as they returned to quickly start returning the other captured, unconscious humans back through the portal, though they didn't bother waking them as they had with Brian, which was probably wise considering how confused and alarming this whole thing would no doubt be for them to wake up to.

"The Shakri exist in all of time, and none," the Shakri told them, "We travel alone and together. The Seven".

"The Shakri craft, connected to Earth, through seven portals and seven minutes," the Doctor nodded, exchanging a quick look with the Time Lady, pleased to finally understand why seven had been such an important number. He frowned at the Shakri, eyeing him intently, "Ah, but why?"

"Serving the word of the Tally".

"Right, okay…" the Hatter narrowed her eyes, feeling as though she was slowly starting to understand, but they needed to be certain. They couldn't make mistakes or assumptions, too many lives were at risk, "But what about the cubes? What purpose do they play in your plans?"

"Humanity. The Shakri will halt the human plague before the spread".

"Ah, I see," she glanced at the Doctor and back to the hologram, pleased that her train of thinking had been correct, "So this whole thing is about stopping the humans, erase them, if you will, before they can colonise space".

"We thought the cubes were an invasion," the Doctor said, frowning as he and the Time Lady moved around to stand on the other side of the screens, looking at the hologram side on, "The start of war".

The Shakri didn't turn to face them, still looking directly through the screens, "The human contagion _only_ must be eliminated," it insisted.

"Who are you calling a contagion?" Amy called as she and Rory returned, coming to stand next to the Time Lords, who both frowned at them.

"Amy, Rory," the Time Lady gave them a motherly, disproving look, "You shouldn't be here, and where's Astra?" she couldn't help sighing in relief at the sight of Astra not being with them, though she still didn't like not knowing where her baby was.

"You should have learned by now," Rory remarked, not looking the slightest bit bothered, before his features softened, "Astra's fine, Dad's babysitting".

She smirked, playfully nudging his side, "Well, I suppose it's only fair, given how many times we've babysat _you_ ".

"Thanks".

Amy laughed slightly, while the Doctor exchanged a smile with the Hatter, "So…" she grew serious, raising her eyebrows at the Time Lords before casting the hologram a curious look, "What is this Tally anyway?"

"Some people call it Judgment Day," the Doctor informed the humans, eyeing the quietly chuckling hologram, "Or the Reckoning".

"Don't you know?" she gave him and the Hatter a quick look.

"I've never wanted to find out".

"Something's are better left unknown," the Hatter remarked quietly, her expression grim.

"Before the Closure, there is the Tally," the Shakri told them, grinning as he reached out to touch one of the screens with his long, claw-like fingernails, "The Shakri serves the Tally".

"Yes, I remember the bedtime story," the Time Lady nodded, pulling a slight face as she remembered it, she never had liked the story as a little girl, but all the children of Gallifrey had grown up hearing the stories, "The so called pest controllers of the Universe. My nanny used to tell me that if I was naughty, they would come and snatch me away," she glanced at the Doctor, sighing, "It completely terrified me into being a good little girl...until I meet you, of course, sweetheart," she flashed him a brief smile.

Amy raised her eyebrows, giving the Time Lords a strange look, "Wow," shook her head, "That's some seriously weird bedtime story, I hope you're not telling them to Astra".

"You can talk," the Doctor shot her a look, "Wolf in your grandmother's nightdress?"

"Astra prefers hearing about our past adventures, actually," the Hatter added with a smile to Amy, who shrugged slightly in acknowledgement of what the Doctor had said. Of course, they were planning to tell Astra Gallifreyan nursery rhymes and stories, in fact they had told her some of the more kid friendly ones…which was rather limited, but maybe when she was a bit older and less likely to be traumatised by them, as they had been in their youth, they would tell her the more frightening stories. Gallifreyan nursery rhymes, after all, were all supposed to teach children educational and life lessons, just like Earth ones, though typically in much more horribly frightening ways, like being erased from time and space due to misbehaving. That wasn't exactly the way that they wished to raise Astra to be respectful.

"So," the Doctor clapped his hands together, casually walking closer to the hologram, eyeing it as he went on, "Here you are, depositing slug pallets all over Earth, made attractive so humans will collect them, hoping to find something beautiful inside," he walked around behind the hologram, coming to a stop directly before the hologram on the other side of the screens, looking through the glass to it, "Because that's what _they_ are," he pointed over to Amy and Rory as the Hatter broke into a wide smile, enjoying listening to his little speeches, "Not pests or plague, creatures of _hope_ , forever building and reaching," he shook his head, "Making mistakes, of course, every life form does. But, _but_ they _learn_. And they strive for greater, and they archive it," he walked back around to stand beside the Hatter, reaching out to take her hand again as he looked back over to the hologram, "You want a tally? Put their achievements against their failings through the whole of time, I will back humanity against the Shakri every time".

"Well said, Doctor," the Hatter said softly, giving him a proud look.

The hologram began laughing, however, instantly making her frown, drawing their attention back over to it, "The Tally must be met," it stated firmly, "The second wave will be released".

"What does that mean?" Amy demanded, eyeing the hologram.

The Hatter exchanged a quick look with the Doctor, tightening her grip on his hand, "It means that more people are going to die," she said darkly, glaring icily at the hologram.

"The human plague breeding and fighting," the hologram practically spat, finally turning to face them, walking slowly towards them, "And when cornered, their rage to destroy. You're too late, Doctor, Hatter," it sneered at them, its image starting to flicker, "The Tally shall be met".

And with that, the hologram disappeared in a flash of blue light.

Amy quickly looked to the Time Lords, her eyes wide, "He's gone?"

"Technically, he wasn't even here, Amy," the Hatter told her, speaking quickly, already starting to move towards the control panel, "It was just the ship's automated interface".

The Doctor pulled a face, following right on his wife's heels, "Think of it like a talking propaganda poster," he muttered distastefully, reaching into his pocket for his sonic screwdriver, his eyes flying over the seven screens, "We can stop the second wave," he flashed the device at the screens as he spoke, while the Time Lady reached out to start typing something into one of the lower screens, alien language flashing across it, "We can disconnect all the Shakri craft from their portals, leave them drifting in the darkspace…"

"Yes, but we have to help all of those people back on Earth," the Time Lady reminded him as she continued typing something, her hands almost a blur, barely even seeming to be looking at the keys as she hit them, "We can't just allow those people affected by the cubes to die…"

"I restarted one of your hearts," Amy cut in, pointing at the Doctor, and the Doctor clicked his fingers at her.

"You'd need mass defibrillation," Rory remarked, looking between the Time Lords.

"Of course," the Doctor nodded, smiling as he looked back and forth to Amy and Rory, "Ah, beautiful. But, Ponds, Ponds…" he suddenly held up his fingers, meeting the Hatter's eyes.

The Hatter broke into a grin, her eyes lighting up in excitement, "Brilliant idea, Rory," she flashed him a smile, turning back to the screen, typing again, "But what if we were to take your idea and tweak it, just a tiny bit? For instance…use the cubes in reverse?"

"The Shakri used the cubes to turn people's hearts off," the Doctor continued, when the humans simply looked at them in confusion, not following what the Time Lady was getting at, "So we're going to use them to turn them back on again!" he grinned, pressing a fleeting kiss to the Hatter's cheek in his own excitement with their idea, before pulling his sonic screwdriver out his pocket.

Amy frowned slightly, "Will that work?" she asked, eyeing them dubiously.

"Well, creatures of hope," he flashed the sonic at the screens, catching the Hatter's eye again, "Has to".

"It will," the Time Lady said firmly, because the alternative of all of those people dying, all of those innocent lives lost, was simply to tragic and horrific to even bare thinking about. This had to work; she refused to accept any other possibility. She shook her head, forcing herself to keep typing, so very grateful for her ability to type without needing to see the keys, she probably would be of little use otherwise since most keyboards followed the same pattern in regards to their set up, even alien ones, so her lack of comprehension in regards to what the letters were thankfully didn't hinder her too much. She had learnt that trick centuries ago.

As they continued working, a timer-like countdown appeared in the middle of the centre screen.

"Thirty seconds," the Doctor announced, "Don't let us down, cubes, you're working for us now…" he muttered, when something flashed across the screen and the entire ship began to shake around them, his eyes widening, "Oh dear…" he quickly looked to the Hatter, who winced, already having a fairly good idea of what was going on, "All these cubes. There's going to be a terrible wave of energy ricocheting around here any second".

The Hatter grabbed his hand, "Time to go, I think," she said, mock brightly, glancing at Amy and Rory, "Run!"

She and the Doctor took off running before the humans even had a chance to blink, the two of them quickly moving to follow after them. They had just jumped through the portal as the ship exploded behind them, causing the four of them to end up landing hard on their stomaches on the floor of the lift. A baby's giggle made the four of them look up, finding Brian standing in the doorway, still looking rather shocked as Astra squirmed in his arms, giggling in delight and clapping, apparently finding the sight of her parents position amusing, while all around the world, people affected by the cube recovered as though nothing had happened at all.

…

The Hatter smiled as she walked alongside the Doctor and Kate, Astra happily sitting in the Doctor's arms, Cyril, her teddy bear, dangling out of her mouth from his already terribly abused looking hand, while the morning sunshine washed over them outside the Tower.

"You, er…" Kate began, stopping and turning towards the Time Lords, her hands inside her coat pockets, "You really are as remarkable as Dad said," she stepped forward and kissed the Doctor's cheek, "Thank you," she turned to the Hatter, kissing her cheek, too, before pulling away, "Thank you both, so much".

"Aww, Kitty Kat," the Time Lady smiled softly, looking quite touched by her affectionate gesture and thanks. It wasn't very often that they were thanked, not that they truly cared, nor needed it because that's not why they did what they did, but it always touched her hearts when it happened.

The Doctor looked rather surprised; too, "My!" he laughed faintly, "A kiss by a Lethbridge Stewart. That is new," he exchanged a look with the Time Lady, while Kate laughed slightly along with him.

The Hatter moved closer to Kate and pulled her in for a tight hug, smiling broadly, "You did wonderfully," she whispered to her, "You're father would have been so proud, just as I am," she pulled back, her smile softening as she noticed Kate's eyes looked slightly wetter than before, "Keep up the good work, Kitty Kat".

"I'll try," she assured her, meeting her eyes briefly before looking away, blinking a bit more than normal. She suddenly laughed and the Hatter followed her gaze, finding Astra pouting and looking rather disgruntled. Kate moved closer to the Doctor again to take Astra's hand, "It was a pleasure to meet you, Astra. I'm sure we'll meet again".

Astra grinned and gargled something around the hand of Cyril.

"She's looking forward to it," the Doctor translated for Kate, looking amused, "Oh, dear…" he blinked and quickly checked his watch, looking back over to the Hatter, "We're late for dinner".

"Oh, yes," the Time Lady nodded quickly, giving Kate an apologetic smile, "Amy _will_ murder us if we're late…again. She's a little sensitive about tardiness, of course she does have fair reason to be".

The Doctor took the Astra's hand and waved it at Kate, who smiled and waved back, the Time Lady pausing to briefly give her another hug before moving to follow after the Doctor to climb into the back of the waiting car to take them back to Amy and Rory's house, Kate watching them drive away, smiling broadly.

….

Later on that evening, the Doctor and the Hatter laughed as they sat on stools in Amy and Rory's kitchen, Amy and Rory giggling away as they sat on the other side of the bench, while Brian was sitting across from them, eating a round of Chinese takeout with chopsticks. Astra was sitting in her highchair, not overly pleased with her selection of steamed vegetables that her parents had ordered for her, getting more of her food on the tray of the highchair then inside her mouth.

The Time Lady finished chewing her last bite of noodles and glanced over to Astra, smiling faintly as she noticed her yawn loudly, her eyes almost rolling in her head from lack of sleep, even though she would deny being tired if asked, like any toddler, "It's getting close to Astra's bedtime," she said to the Doctor, giving Amy and Rory an apologetic look, "Perhaps we ought to be going, sweetheart…"

The Doctor checked his watch, casting Astra a soft look, "It is getting late," he agreed, and the Hatter slipped off her stool to start cleaning up after Astra's mess, "Things to do," he looked around at the humans, smiling, "Baby's to put to bed, worlds to save, swings to…swing on…"

The Hatter laughed slightly, finishing cleaning up the tray and carefully lifting Astra up out of the seat, the baby failing to stifle another huge yawn, snuggling into the croak of the Hatter's arms. The Doctor slipped off his stool and placed his hand on her lower back, the two of them starting to head towards the hallway door, only to pause, exchanging a quick look. They couldn't just…go, not without saying something more, something they had been avoiding and that had become harder than ever to ignore after the last few months. So the Doctor spun back around and draped his arms around Amy and Rory's shoulder, ducking down slightly so that he could be head height with them between them.

"Look," he began, looking between them, "We know, you both have lives here. Beautiful, messy lives. That is what makes you so fabulously human. You don't want to give them up. We understand…"

"Actually, it's you two they can't give up, Doctor," Brian cut in suddenly, his eyes moving between the Time Lords, who looked at him in surprise. He smiled very faintly, looking back to Amy and Rory, "And I don't think they should. Go with them," he urged his son and daughter-in-law, who both looked at him, startled, "Go with them. Go save every world you can find. Who else has that chance?" he shrugged lightly, "Life will still be here".

"You could always come with us," the Hatter told him, smiling gently as she lightly rocked Astra in her arms. Brian's words touched her, because she knew how hard it must have been for him, but it would mean so much to Amy and Rory, she knew that from the grins on their faces, "We would love you to come with us, in fact. Friday night is popcorn and movie night," she winked playfully.

Brian gave her a smile, but lightly shook his head, "Somebody's got to water the planets," he said, his smile fading as he looked between the Time Lords, "Just bring them back safe".

The Hatter nodded firmly, holding Astra a bit tighter in her arms as the Doctor dropped his arms from around Amy and Rory, moving to her side. He smiled gently down at Astra sleeping in her arms, wrapping his arm around her waist as they turned to watch Amy and Rory hug Brian, before moving to join the Time Lords. They walked outside into the garden where the TARDIS were parked, stopping just outside the doors to look back to Brian in the open kitchen door, who smiled widely back at them, watching them as they stepped into the time machine and disappeared, off onto their next adventure. They weren't to know that it would be one of the very last times.

 _ **Blimey, it's been a while, hasn't it? I am so sorry, my nursing course has been keeping me so busy, I probably wouldn't have gotten this chapter written up for another week if I hadn't just said to myself 'screw it, you've got until the 29**_ _ **th**_ _ **to finish this, get some writing done already,' and I did, thankfully. I would have preferred to update it yesterday, but I didn't finish writing it until 12 last night, so I figured I'd put it up today instead, rather than wait for another week.**_

 _ **I've got to say, I used to love this episode, but after writing it I've actually come to realise how poorly written the storyline was. It had massive plot holes in it; I tried to fix them, though there was still one massive one that bothers me that I couldn't quite fix. For instance, as a review pointed out to me, when they were in the spaceship they just left those people behind when the ship was destroyed, so I tried to fix that by getting Amy and Rory to save them while the Doctor and the Hatter spoke to the hologram, but realistically they wouldn't have had time to save them all. Then there was the whole thing with the cubes killing all those people and yet, they managed to recover without sustaining any brain damage for having been dead for an hour. Did the cubes heal the damaged cells? I can only assume so, but it was never explained. It just really bothers me, as a writer, because I do try to write my stories as realistically as possible, even if they obviously aren't.**_

 _ **I really hope you guys liked the chapter; I am so very dearly hoping to get the next chapter up sooner than this one. Tell me what you thought, please review :)**_

 _ **Guest reviews:**_

 _ **Sam Fraser (1):**_ _ **Thank you so much for pointing out that little plot hole, the moment I read your review I instantly knew I had to try and fix it, because you're quite right, the Doctor would never have just left those people to die like that, and yet in the episode he does so without a second thought. I always did enjoy the episode, but after having written it, I don't anymore. You're right; it does feel like a horribly rushed mess, while writing it I almost felt as though it was more of filler that might have been better suited as a mini episode, rather than an actual adventure. I did enjoy the focus on Amy, Rory, and the Doctor's relationship, but it feels as though during the episode, that was the only thing that they did focus on, while the rest of the plot was rushed along with massive mistakes allowed to be slipped into it. It started off with so much promise, which only makes it more disappointing. Thanks for the review and again, for pointing out the plot hole :)**_

 _ **Guest (1):**_ _ **Well, I'm afraid that I won't be doing anything Big Finish related until I've had a chance to listen to any of them, I may possible one day do a small one-shot involving the Hatter meeting one of the Big Finish companions, but that's a big maybe at this point. I wouldn't wish to write anything Big Finish related without doing a lot of research before hand, just to try and make the characters as close to their writing. Thanks for the review :)**_

 _ **Guest (2):**_ _ **I haven't listened to any of the audio dramas I'm afraid, I would very much like to try to one day. That's very interesting; I didn't know that David Bradly had done of the First Doctor's audio adventures, though it does make sense. While his writing during the Christmas special might have let him done, I do believe that he did a wonderful job playing the role; I only wish the writing had been more true to the First Doctor. Thanks for the review :)**_

 _ **Same Fraser (2):**_ _ **Thank you for that, and for anyone who is interested in more of the discussion in regards to what they did to the First Doctor's character during the Christmas special, I would highly recommend looking up the Unwilling Adventurer on Tumblr, they have a blog dedicated to the First Doctor's era.**_

 _ **Guest (3):**_ _ **Yes, I have actually heard of that Sixth Doctor's audio adventure that explains how he truly came to regenerate, though I haven't listened to it yet. I believe I received I review on it ages ago and I went and looked it up myself on Wiki :)**_

 _ **NicoleR85 (1, 2, 3, 4):**_ _ **Personally, I do not believe that Hartnell was racist, of course one cannot know what someone might be like behind closed doors, I do, however, believe that we need to remember that Hartnell came from an era were racism was very common. It doesn't excuse how wrong it is or was, it is simply the way that it was and thankfully, we have come a long way since then. People in the 60's didn't look at things as we do, which is why I do not believe you cannot take something that was said back then and try to compare to the views that we hold now because the views on race back then are worlds apart. Perhaps Hartnell was a racist, I hate to think that he might have been and I personally don't believe that the evidence of his personal character proves that he was, but perhaps in today's standards he might have been, I don't know and I doubt that we ever will know for certain.**_

 _ **Guest (4):**_ _ **No, I hadn't heard of that, actually. It sounds like it would have been a very interesting adventure, though, I'm not sure if it would have worked, however. I don't know, I think it's a fun idea to play around with in Fanfiction, but as for the TV series? I'm not sure, maybe not for a show like Doctor Who, I believe other TV shows have done episodes similar, but I'm not sure if I could see it working for Doctor Who, for some strange reason. Not back in Tom Baker's era, anyway, or even today.**_

 _ **Guest (5):**_ _ **Ooh, that is a very good and no doubt lengthy question that I could probably spend a good twenty minutes talking about all the possibilities, so I'll try hard to make it short. Had the Hatter died during the Five Doctors, rather than regenerated, I do believe that the Hatter's reactions would have varied quite a bit. I feel as though the First Hatter would have taken it the best, she would have just be happy that she had so much time exploring the Universe that she would have been okay with dying. Second Hatter, would have been stunned and probably quite appalled by the notion that she would die with still so much left to do. The Third Hatter, would have been angry, once the shock wore off, probably with herself for getting herself killed, but beneath it she would have been horrified and deeply unsettled by how close she was to her death. And four, well, the Fourth Hatter technically wasn't even there, so we wouldn't have seen her reaction.**_

 _ **Now, the Doctors…they would have taken it the hardest out of the Hatters, the Fifth Doctor would have had the worst reaction, I would imagine because it was his Hatter who died, he would have blamed himself for her death and grief and guilt would have simply have been too much for him to bare. The First Doctor probably would have blamed his future self for it, too, through his own grief, while Two and Three would have been stunned. I expect that it would be the First Hatter, in the end, since she would be handling it the best, who would urge the others to keep going, rallying them to keep fighting until they managed to win against Borusa.**_

 _ **Going forward, only the Fifth Doctor had his memories from the Death Zone, so I would expect that he would be a complete and utter mess, just as he was after the Time War, but probably even worse because he didn't have his promise to the Hatter to keep going to hold onto. I don't think he would have been able to cope with her loss and, in the end, I think he possibly would have taken his own life, just as he came close to doing after the Time War. The Hatter meant everything to him, even back then; she is the one death that he could never come back from.**_

 _ **Guest (6):**_ _ **I'm afraid I haven't listened to any of the audio dramas, so I won't be writing anything relating to them at this point, I am considering writing a small one-shot of the Hatter meeting a past companion of the Doctors, however, from one of the audio adventures. You seem to know a great deal about them, which companion do you think the Hatter ought to meet? I would have to do a lot of reading up on them, of course, so at this point it's more of something I'm considering writing.**_

 _ **Guest, chapter 1:**_ _ **Possibly I'll look into doing a AU story were the Hatter travels with the First Doctor, I certainly would like to do more Classic Who writing, but at this point, given my nursing course, I'm not looking at writing anything other than stories I already have currently ongoing. Of course, having said that, I could always end up changing my mind in a few months time, but I certainly am interested.**_

 _ **Guest, chapter 2:**_ _ **I think this is more of a reply to another reviewer, so I'll copy and paste what was written:**_

" **To NicoleR85, the Doctor also, in The Feast of Steven, said ''This is a madhouse, it's all full of Arabs!''. Seeing as the line isn't in the script, and the scene has nothing to do with arabs at all, Hartnell probably tried to improvise and say "full of Americans" but just said it wrong, which he did a lot. But as you said, regardless, Hartnell's Doctor was certainly a progressive Doctor, and it is nice to know that the actor himself, while he may have held nationalist views, did get along with many people of races he may or may not have held negatives views on."**


	10. Chapter 10 The Angels Take Manhattan, P1

_**The Angels Take Manhattan, Part 1**_

"Okay, Astra…" the Hatter smiled gently, sitting cross legged in front of Astra on the old, worn blanket that the Doctor had draped over the massive rock they were sitting on top of in the middle of Central Park, New York, just by a gently rippling duck pond, while the sun shone warmly down over them and the New York skyline could be seen above the green tree tops behind them. Astra looked up into her mother's face, her large, green eyes far too intelligent and mischievous for a baby, even a Gallifreyan one as the Time Lady leaned closer to her, "Say mummy, Astra. Come on, darling".

Astra simply smiled toothily up at her, her eyes glimmering in a way that reminded her of the Doctor before he teased her, one hand fisted into the fabric of her bright blue tutto skirt that she had insisted upon wearing that day, while the other hand crunched a dry leaf.

"What about…daddy, Astra?" the baby actually paused for a moment, tilting her head to the side thoughtfully, her eyes practically dancing with amusement before roughly shaking her head with a almost mocking little smirk. The Hatter narrowed her eyes, "Oh, I see how it is, you cheeky little thing…"

"Um, Hatter?" Amy said suddenly, making the Time Lady look up to see Amy eyeing her from over the top of her new, circular framed glasses that were perched on the bridge of her nose, her newspaper held in one hand, sitting with her back leaning against the Doctor's, who happened to be quietly reading to himself…at the moment, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to encourage Astra to talk," she replied as she looked back to Astra, narrowing her eyes suspiciously as Astra gave her another little smirk, the light breeze making the flower hairclip flutter. Yes, this baby was far too much like herself and the Doctor, "It's not going very well, I'm afraid," she sighed, shaking her head.

"Isn't she only ten months old? Isn't that a little young, even for a Time Lord? I thought you said the average age is twelve months."

"A little, perhaps," she agreed, shrugging slightly as she looked back to Amy, "But I began speaking by the time I was nine months old, and Astra is already developing faster than one might expect. She's very close to talking already".

"She's an over achiever, like her mother," the Doctor added proudly from behind his book, absently turning to the next page.

"Right…" Amy nodded slowly, still not looking completely convinced, "Doctor…" she glanced over her shoulder to him, "How old were you when you started talking?"

The Doctor paused and lifted his head from his book, turning his head slightly to look at the side of Amy's face, while even the Hatter looked interested, not knowing herself, "Fourteen months…"

"Blimey," the Hatter blinked, looking quite shocked, while Amy's eyes widened and Rory, who was relaxing on his back on Amy's other side, lifted his head to give the Doctor a startled look. The Time Lady shook her head slowly, eyeing her husband, "Your mother must have been beside herself".

"Oh, she was," he nodded, giving her a cheerful smile, "She took me to every specialist on Gallifrey, but they all said that it wasn't that I _couldn't_ talk, it was simply that I didn't _want_ to".

She laughed, giving him a fond look, "Of course," she said, "And then, I suppose, that once you started, you never really shut up".

"You know me so well, dear".

The Hatter turned back to Astra, watching her as the baby reached for another leaf, smiling widely as she clapped her hands and crushed the leaf into tiny, dry fragments, "Well, let's hope Astra truly does take after me, then," she muttered, really not liking the idea of having to wait another several months to hear her say her first word. The idea that they might miss hearing it because Astra was being taken care of by one of their friends weighed on her, urging her to try to encourage Astra to talk all the more.

The Doctor reached out to cover her hand as it rested on the rock between them, "She'll talk when she's ready, dear," he assured her lightly, not in the slightest bit concerned. He suddenly broke into a large smile, one that the Time Lady couldn't help returning, "Hey, look at this book," he held it up for her to see the yellow cover that depicted a blonde, curly haired woman with a fedora hat perched on top of her head, her red lipstick painted lips blowing a smoking gun and with a great deal of cleavage peeking over the top of her trench coat, the title of the book written in big, gold, 30's style lettering, reading, 'Melody Malone,' "It's actually very good," he said brightly, flipping back to his page.

"Yes, I know, sweetheart," the Hatter smiled fondly again, amused. She reached out and pulled Astra towards her, settling the baby into her lap as she brushed the bits of leaf matter off her hands and skirt. They had decided to simply relax today, packing a picnic lunch for themselves and enjoying the sunshine of the park, and the Doctor seemed to be enjoying himself, not having shown any signs of boredom since cracking the book open, far from it, in fact.

"'New York growled at my window,'" the Doctor began reading aloud, not for the first time, either. The Hatter caught Amy's eye as she looked up from her newspaper, mild annoyance crossing her face, "'But I was ready for it. My stocking seams were straight, my lipstick combat ready, and…'" he broke into a smile as he continued reading, "'…I was packing cleavage that could fell an ox at twenty feet'".

"That's some cleavage," the brunet remarked, giving him an amused look, laughing as she noticed the small, disgusted look on Astra's face, apparently not enjoying the story nearly as much.

Amy sighed loudly, "Doctor, you're doing it again," she complained.

"I'm reading!" he defended himself.

" _Aloud_. Please could you not?"

The Doctor lowered the book and turned himself slightly to get a better look at Amy, who looked back to him. He eyed her closely for a moment, frowning, "There's something different about you, isn't there?" he turned back around, while Amy pushed her glasses back up her nose, while the Hatter shook her head at how oblivious he could be sometimes.

"What's the book?" Rory asked, lifting his head to look over to the Doctor, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Melody Malone," he told him, crossing his ankles as he leaned back against Amy's back, looking over to Rory, "She's a private detective in old town New York".

"She's got ice in her heart and a kiss on her lips, and a vulnerable side she keeps well hidden," the Hatter and Amy recited together mockingly, exchanging smirks as they finished.

The Doctor blinked and looked between them, seeming almost disappointed, "Oh, you've both read it?"

"Actually, you read it _aloud_ , sweetheart," the Hatter corrected him, playfully nudging his side with her elbow.

"Yeah, and then you went 'yowzah!'" Amy rolled her eyes at him, pushing her glasses back up her nose.

"Only you could fancy someone in a book," Rory commented with a laugh, sitting upright, bracing his elbow beneath him.

The Doctor's eyes widened at the implication, looking quite startled by the mere notion, "I don't fancy her!" he exclaimed at once, his eyes flying over to the Time Lady, who merely raised her eyebrows as she absently tried to stop Astra from putting a leaf in her mouth, "I just…" he shifted slightly, glancing back to the brunet, his gaze softening, "She reminds me of you, dear. Clever and…cheeky," he coughed, almost blushing.

The Hatter smiled slowly, eyeing him, "Guns aren't really my style and I'm quite certain I've never _publically_ shown off _that_ much cleavage…" she waved a hand towards the book's cover, this time making the Doctor blush bright red and clear his throat, "But…" she shrugged lightly, "She does seem to have good taste in hats, so I'll give her that".

"Ooh," Amy turned around suddenly, smirking at the Doctor, "I think I'm going to need to see this cover…" she tried snatching the book out of his hand.

The Doctor scooted forward slightly, holding the book away from her, "No, no," he said quickly, really not liking it when Amy and the Hatter ganged up on him like this, "I'm busy. It's your hair!" he suddenly leaned forward, sniffing her before frowning again, pulling back, "Is it your hair?"

"Oh, shut up," she gave him an exasperated look, "It's the glasses," she reached up to adjust her glasses pointedly on the bridge of her nose, "I'm wearing reading glasses now, on my nose, see? There you go".

"I don't like them. They make your eyes look all liney…" he reached up to lift her glasses up to get a better look of her eyes, Amy staring back at him in shock and offense.

The Hatter winced and whacked the back of his head, making him jump and quickly let go of Amy's glasses, his eyes widening as he finally realised what he had just said and that it wasn't the glasses that made Amy's eyes look lined. Even Astra was giving him a look, while Rory looked mildly panicked.

"You're such an idiot, Doctor," the Time Lady muttered, unable to believe that he had seriously just said something like that, though why she was surprised, she didn't know. It was the Doctor, Captain Oblivious, after all.

The Doctor grimaced slightly, leaning back from Amy, as though afraid she might start breathing fire, "No, actually, sorry," he said awkwardly, "They're fine. Carry on," he quickly turned his attention back onto his book.

"Okay…" Rory warily looked between his wife and the Doctor, slowly starting to climb onto his feet, looking very, very eager to escape, "I'm going to go and get us some coffee. Who wants more coffee? Me too!" he answered at once, not giving anyone a chance to reply, "I'll go!" he turned to start quickly walking away, while the Hatter looked highly amused.

"Rory," Amy called after him, making him stop after only a few steps, "Do I have noticeable lines on my eyes now?"

"Yes," the Doctor answered at once, looking up from his page. Amy gave him a dark look.

The Hatter shook her head, not even bothering to hit him again, it wouldn't do any good, "Centuries of marriage, you would have thought he would have learnt better by now," she remarked to Amy, throwing the Doctor a look.

Amy looked back over to Rory's stiff back, raising her eyebrows, "Rory?"

"No," Rory replied hurriedly.

She narrowed her eyes, "You didn't look".

"I noticed them earlier," Rory said, turning around, when his eyes widened, " _Didn't_ notice them!" he quickly corrected himself, a brief look of panic crossing his features, while Astra giggled at the scene, "I specifically remember _not_ noticing them".

"You walk among fire pits, Centurion".

He took a step towards her, raising his eyebrows, the panic fading, "Do I have to come over there?"

She smirked, stretching her legs out in front of her and flicking her long hair back over her shoulder, "You can if you like".

He grinned, moving to crouch beside her, while the Hatter suddenly became very, very interested in admiring the trees surrounding them, "Well, we have company," his eyes flickered over to the Time Lords and back to her.

"I'm sure the Hatter will babysit," Amy said playfully, leaning forward and pressing her lips to his, smiling into the kiss.

The Doctor released a loud sigh and Astra pulled a face, turning her attention back onto crunching leaves, while the Hatter continued to keep her eyes fixed on the trees, trying hard to shut out the noise, just focusing on how very green and tall the tress were, how pretty they looked in this lighting…oh, look! There was even a little bird's nest in one of them, how adorable.

"Oh, do you know," the Doctor complained, lowering his book with a look caught between embarrassment and disgust, "It is so humiliating when you do that," he gave Amy and Rory a look, before flipping his book back open as the humans finally pulled apart, looking amused.

"Yeah, like you two can talk," Amy shot back at him, giving him and the Time Lady a pointed look.

"We're not _that_ bad…" the Hatter paused, reconsidering her words as even the Doctor gave her a look, "…anymore," she slowly corrected herself, smiling embarrassedly, though there had been that one incident in the kitchen this morning, not to mention the other one the night before in the console room, after Astra had gone to bed…Okay, so maybe they were still just as bad.

Rory shook his head, turning back to Amy, "Coffee?" he asked her.

"Coffee," Amy nodded, still smiling, watching as he rose from his crouch and began walking off again.

The Doctor looked up from his page, glancing at Amy, "Can I have a go?" he plucked her glasses off her nose before she could even reply, settling them on the bridge of his nose and looking back to his book, "Oh, actually, that is much better!" he grinned happily, moving the book closer to his face before pulling it away again, "That is exciting, isn't it, my little star?" he turned towards the Hatter and reached out to tickle Astra's stomach, making her squeal in delight.

The Hatter laughed softly as she wrapped her arm more securely around Astra, not wishing for her to squirm herself off her lap with her laughter, "They suit you very nicely, sweetheart," she told him, eyeing his face. Instantly, the Doctor straightened and smugly pushed the glasses up his nose, "Sorry, Amy, I think you might have lost your specs," she gave Amy a wink from over the Doctor's shoulder.

Amy smiled and shook her head, moving to lean her back up against the Doctor's again, grabbing her disregarded newspaper from the ground beside her, "Read to me, Doctor," she ordered him.

"I thought you didn't like my reading aloud," the Doctor commented, adjusting the glasses on his nose.

"Shut up, and read me a story. Just don't go 'yowzah!'"

"Like that will stop him," the Hatter shook her head fondly, closing her eyes and tilting her head back with a peaceful expression on her face, enjoying the warmth of the sun on her cheeks, while the Doctor laughed and reached out to playfully tap the book against her leg, before lifting it back up to his face, ripping the last page of the book out.

Amy frowned at the noise and looked over her shoulder to him, the Time Lady not even bothering to look, "Why did you do that?" she asked him, confused.

"He always rips out the last page of a book," the Time Lady sighed, cracking her eyes open enough to roll them, "It's terribly annoying, I had to ban him from ever reading one of my books from my TARDIS because of it".

"But that way the story doesn't have to end," the Doctor protested, pulling a face, "I hate endings!" he stuck the torn page into the small, open picnic basket that they had brought with them and turned back to his current page, missing the way that the brunet looked disapprovingly at his treatment of the book, very much hoping Astra wouldn't get any ideas, "'As I crossed the street,'" he began reading aloud again, "'I saw this thin guy, but he didn't see me. I guess that's how it began…'"

Amy suddenly shifted, making him pause and glance at her as she climbed onto her feet, stretching slightly, "My legs are getting numb," she told them, breaking into a bright smile, "Let's go see the ducks, Astra would like that, wouldn't she?"

Astra clapped excitedly at the prospect and the Hatter had to quickly tighten her hold on her, preventing her from trying to start crawling out of her lap, though knowing Astra, she would try running first and end up hurting herself, as she so often did. She was just so eager to start running and walking, she wasn't a fan of just crawling, but her muscles and bones just weren't developed enough to be able to carry her yet. It wouldn't stop her from trying, however, and no amount of falling face first was going to stop her.

"I don't think I need to translate that," the Hatter remarked, amused as Amy smiled and moved around to where the Time Lady was still sitting, reaching down to take the baby from her before straightening.

"What about the book?" the Doctor asked with a slight whine to his tone, holding the book up in front of him with a frown.

Amy shrugged, tickling Astra's chin, "I'm listening," she said, and turned to start carefully walking down the sloping surface of the rock.

The Hatter gave him a smile, "Come along, sweetheart," she climbed onto her feet, wincing as her knees arched slightly from having been sitting cross legged for so long, her left foot tingling unpleasantly for a moment as she tried giving it a shake. Beside her, the Doctor sighed and stood, pausing to link his arm with the Time Lady's as they set off after Amy and Astra after a moment, once the Time Lady was able to feel her foot again.

They soon caught up with Amy as she stood along the side of the large bridge that ran across the stream of the duck pond, holding Astra in one arm while she dangled a small stick over the ledge between her fingers. The Doctor pulled himself up onto the ledge, lightly swinging his feet as he opened his book up again, while the Hatter looked out over the railing at the water rippling below them, smiling as she watched a mother duck floating along the water, followed by her seven chicks.

"'I followed the skinny guy for two more blocks before he turned and I could ask exactly what he was doing here,'" the Doctor continued reading, raising his voice slightly over the sound of the chirping ducks. Amy dropped the stick over the edge before jogging over to the other side of the bridge, carefully leaning out over the railing with Astra to eagerly watch for the stick to come floating out on the other side, the baby seeming highly entertained by the game, "'He looked a little scared, so I gave him my best smile and my bluest eyes…'"

"Beware the yowzah!" Amy called, pointing at Astra, who giggled and battered her finger away. She turned back around from the railing, fixing the Doctor with a mock stern look, "Do not, at this point, yowz…"

The Hatter laughed and glanced at the Doctor, waiting for his response, but the moment she caught sight of his face, she tensed, "Doctor?" she frowned, instantly growing concerned, watching as he slipped off the ledge, his eyes fixed intently on the page of the book, "Sweetheart, what's wrong?" she reached out, placing her hand on his arm.

Amy gave him a slightly confused look, "What did the skinny guy say?" she questioned, moving across the bridge to them, looking at the book.

Slowly, the Doctor reached up to take the glasses off, his eyes still glued to the book as he swallowed, "He said, 'I just went to get coffee for the Doctor, the Hatter, and Amy. Hello, River'".

The Hatter's eyes widened and she quickly grabbed the book out of his hands, while Amy blinked in shock. The Time Lady's eyes flew down the page, reading quickly of how Rory and River, or 'Melody Malone,' as she was going by, were forced into the back seat of a car by a couple of armed men that had seemingly appeared from out of the shadows of the dark night, apparently already being familiar with River's alias. She snapped the book shut, looking back up to the Doctor and Amy.

"We need to get back to the TARDIS," she said hurriedly, a note of urgency creeping into her voice, " _Now_ ".

….

They quickly left the park, hurrying amongst the crowds of tourists and locals alike as they soon found themselves moving through the streets of New York, heading back to where they had parked the TARDIS on the banks of the Hudson River.

"What's River doing in a book?" Amy asked them as they crossed a very busy street in Times Square, still carrying Astra, "What's _Rory_ doing in a book?"

"He went to get coffee," the Doctor replied as they swiftly began moving down the footpath on the other side of the street, holding the Hatter's hand, not wishing for them to be separated amongst the bustling crowds of the city. He shook his head at Amy, "Pay attention".

"He went to get coffee and turned up in a book. How does that work?"

"Still working on that part," the Hatter sighed, glancing back over her shoulder to Amy, giving her a comforting smile, "But we will figure this out. I promise".

Amy met her eyes and gave her a small nod, well aware that the Hatter didn't just give promises, she took them incredibly seriously. It reassured her to know that the Time Lady was confident enough to make promises about this entire situation; after all, it was practically her catch phrase that she always kept her promises. Soon enough, they had gotten themselves a bright yellow cab and travelled through the streets, stopping a short distance away from where the TARDIS was parked on the rocky shore of the river, the Doctor unlocking the door and dashing inside, hurrying up to the controls, while the Hatter paused and turned to Amy to swap the book still in her hand for Astra.

"Where did you get this book?" Amy questioned, eyeing the book in her hands as she moved to follow the Time Lords up the stairs and over to the controls, the Hatter already strapping Astra into her babysit.

"It was in my jacket," the Doctor told her, moving around the controls, pulling levers and pressing buttons.

She flicked through the pages, skimming them, "How did it get there?"

"How does anything get there? I've given up asking".

The Hatter straightened from putting Astra into her seat and joined him at the controls, moving around to the typewriter, "We're going to need a date," she said, looking around the Time Rotor to Amy, "Please tell me that River wrote a very convenient placed mention of a date in there",

Amy moved the book closer to her face, quickly flickering through the pages, skimming them before turning, "Yes, hang on…" she turned the page, while the Doctor looked very impatient, "Oh, April 3rd, 1938," she announced.

"Ah, thank you," the Time Lady grinned at her, typing the date into the keyboard, "What's happening on Rory and River's end? We need to get some more clues, narrow down the location…"

She nodded, moving to take a seat on the jump seat beside Astra's babysit, "'You didn't come here in the TARDIS,' I remark as I glanced over to my father in the back of the car, moving swiftly through the streets of New York, 'Obviously,'" she read aloud to them, while the Time Lords danced around the controls, listening, "'Why?' he asked, confused. I couldn't help smirking at that, glancing back over to him, 'They couldn't have'".

"Couldn't have?" the Doctor exclaimed, making Amy jump with a small gasp. He narrowed his eyes on the book, as though it had just insulted him, "What does she mean? Couldn't have?"

"Stop fussing, Doctor," the Hatter sighed, moving around to where he was standing by the controls and giving his arm a light whack. She ignored the little yelp of pain that he gave, knowing perfectly well that it hadn't hurt him at all, "Keep reading, Amy," she called over her shoulder, reaching out to pull a lever.

Amy turned her attention back onto the page, finding her spot again, "'The lights of the Grand Central Station played across our faces as we passed by the building, peering out through the darkened windows as the engine of the car hummed. I sighed grimly, 'This city's full of time distortions,' I explained to Rory, 'It'd be impossible to land the TARDIS here. Like trying to land a plane in a blizzard'. I couldn't help smirking again to myself, imagining my Godfather's expression, 'Even the Hatter couldn't do it…'"

The Doctor's head snapped up again, "Even _who_ couldn't do it?" he demanded in annoyance, quite proud of how cleaver and talented his wife was, and not at all liking having someone say otherwise, not even River. It was possibly a little petty on his part, he would admit, but he knew better than anyone else that you shouldn't doubt what the Hatter was capable of when pushed, and right now Rory _and_ River were possibly in a highly dangerous, unknown situation. If anyone was possibly able to do the impossible, it would be her.

"Don't you two fall out," Amy lowered the book, fixing him with a stern look, "She's only in a book".

The Hatter rolled her eyes at him, "She's not wrong, Doctor," she sighed, frowning as she looked back at the controls, "Trying to land the TARDIS with time distortions…ouch," she winced, reaching to sympathetically pat the console, which hummed beneath her hand, "Even if I could do it, which is a massive, _massive_ stretch, it wouldn't be pretty".

The Doctor flashed her a bright smile, "We can do it, dear," he said confidently, lightly bopping her nose, making her wrinkle her nose in annoyance and lightly bat his hand away, much to his amusement, since he always did love seeing that face she made when he did that. He turned back to the controls, rubbing his hands together, "1938. Easy one".

"Ordinarily, I would agree with you," the Time Lady remarked, frowning deeply again as she eyed him, "But if River's right about these time distortions, which I'm inclined to think she is, I doubt very much if it will be 'easy'".

"Relax, dear. I know what I'm doing".

She raised her eyebrows at him and scoffed, as if to say 'Sure you do, _sure_ …,' "You'd better hold onto something, Amy," she warned her as she reached out to grab the edge of the console, giving the Doctor a sarcastic smile, already knowing well enough that this wouldn't work, but she did so enjoy using it as a moment to take down the Doctor's ego.

The Doctor wasn't the slightest bit concerned, River might have some Gallifreyan genetics, but that didn't mean that she knew how to recognise a time distortion and besides, he was well practiced at piloting the TARDIS, he didn't doubt that everything would be fine. So, he merely shook his head and reached out to grasp the dematerialisation lever, pulling it down…suddenly, there was a very bright flash and the control panel sparked violently as the entire room began shaking. Amy gave a startled cry, but Astra actually cheered and clapped her hands, not in the slightest bit affected by all the shaking in her seat.

The Hatter winced, still hanging onto the console as the Doctor grasped the railing, "I told you!" she shouted over all the noise, "I tried to warn you, but did you listen? No!" she went on before he even had a chance to defend himself, "Of course not, because I'm _only_ the one who passed their TARDIS exam the first go!"

"Okay, I got it a bit wrong!" the Doctor winced, giving her a sheepish smile when she glared at him, quickly adding, "Maybe I got it a _lot_ wrong…"

On the monitor screen hanging above the controls, the words 'Temporal Distortions Detected,' appeared before the single cut out and the entire screen turned black. Slowly, all the shaking began to die down, the console beeping and smoke swirling into the air, while Astra almost seemed disappointed that all the excitement was over.

Amy straightened in her seat; slowly relaxing her hold on the railing behind her as she looked between the Time Lords with wide eyes, "What was that?" she asked them.

"That would be us bouncing off 1938," the Hatter informed her, throwing the Doctor a quick look before shaking her head, eyeing the slightly burnt control panel with a sigh, "Poor old girl, I did try to warn the idiot…" she patted the Time Rotor apologetically.

The Doctor suddenly jumped and snatched his hand back from the railing he had been holding, looking quite startled, "She zapped me!" he almost gaped, turning back to the Hatter.

The Hatter wasn't in any way sympathetic, however, "And I don't blame her, after that stunt," she huffed, turning away from him and moving around the console to Astra's seat, crouching down to undo the straps and pick her up, before heading towards the door without a glance behind her.

Amy looked between the Time Lords and quickly decided that she really wasn't going to be getting in the way of _that_ right now, so instead she quickly jumped up and moved to follow the brunet, leaving the Doctor to sigh loudly and reach beneath the console, grabbing a black fire extinguisher out before moving to follow after the girls, stepping outside to find that they had landed in the middle of a very large, old graveyard that had a nice view of New York in the distance. Amy had perched herself on a small grave a short distance away with the book open, while the Time Lady stood just outside the TARDIS doors, lightly bouncing Astra.

"'So how did you get here?' Rory asked me,'" Amy was reading aloud as smoke wafted out of the TARDIS doors from a few fires that had sprung up during their failed attempt at landing, "'I held up my left wrist, showing him the leather device strapped to my wrist, 'Vortex manipulator,' I smiled, 'Less bulky than a TARDIS. A motorbike through traffic, though I doubt the Hatter would approve…'"

"I certainly don't," the Hatter agreed, nodding, "Cheap time travel".

"It's a book, Hatter," Amy reminded her, shaking her head, "She can't hear you," the Hatter shrugged, not the slightest bit bothered as Amy went back to reading, "'You?' I asked him, raising my eyebrows curiously. He looked away from me, frowning, 'I'm not sure…' he replied after a moment, appearing quite tense'".

The Hatter looked thoughtful, glancing over to the Doctor, who was waving his hand in front of his face to try and clear the smoke still billowing out through the TARDIS doors, "It must have been the Weeping Angles," she said, considering all of the options, "It has to be".

She looked up from the book, "The Weeping Angles?" she repeated, frowning.

"It makes sense," the Doctor nodded, pushing the door open again and lifting the fire extinguisher up, setting it off inside the console room before lowering it and letting the door slip closed.

"It makes what?"

"Just think about it, Amy," the Hatter told her, shaking her head as she looked back over to her, "The Angle's preferred method of attack is, in most cases, to send a person back in time and allow you to live to death out of time from your own," she winkled her nose slightly as some of the smoke drifted out of the doors as the Doctor opened them again, "And now, Rory's been mysteriously sent back to 1938. It fits perfectly with the Angles style".

"Well, we've got a time machine. We can just go and get him".

"Well, tried that, if you noticed," the Doctor grumbled, letting the TARDIS doors swing shut again, waving a hand around them, "And we are back where we started in 2012".

"We didn't start in a graveyard," Amy reminded them, frowning at them, "What are we doing here?"

"I imagine we'll probably find out one day," the Hatter shook her head dismissively, not overly concerned by it, casting her eyes around the rather gloomy, misty graveyard, "If the TARDIS brought us here, there must be a reason. We're probably causally linked, but don't ask me to explain why at this point".

"It doesn't matter," the Doctor said, apparently not anymore concerned by it then the Time Lady was, pushing the time machines doors open again, "Extractor fans on!" he shouted into the console room and instantly the loud hum of the fans starting up sounded, just before he let the doors fall shut again.

Amy turned back to the book, running her eyes down the page, "Well, we're going to get there somehow," she commented lightly, "We're in the rest of the book".

The Hatter frowned slightly, casting her a quick, slightly wary look. She wasn't sure if letting Amy read the book was such a good idea now, given the fact that it contained so much information about their future, but they did desperately need information about what was going on on Rory and River's end…even still, it didn't sit completely right with the strict Time Lady side of her who believed that the book should be safely put away until after the adventure was over, thus ensuring that time ran its course properly without interference from them.

"Doing what?" the Doctor asked absently, sticking his head back inside the console room.

"Page forty three, you're going to break something, Doctor, and the Hatter's not happy about it…"

"I'm what?"

"Amy, I really don't think…" the Hatter began sharply, instantly tensing at the mention of something she and the Doctor were apparently going to do in the future, but before she had a chance to even take a step towards where Amy was perched on the headstone with the book in her hands, Amy did exactly what she had been about to stop her from doing.

"'Why do you have to break mine?' I asked the Doctor,'" Amy read aloud, making the Time Lady's eyes widen, horrified, "'He frowned and exchanged a grim look with the Hatter, the Time Lady looking quite upset as he turned back to me, 'Because Amy read it in a book and now I have no choice…'"

"Stop!" the Time Lady cried frantically, dashing over to her, making Amy blink, "Stop reading!" she reached her, snatching the book out of her hand as the urgently threw the Doctor a look over her shoulder, finding him looking just as horrified as she felt. This was exactly what she had been worried about; she was such an idiot for not having done anything to prevent it before it was already too late. She snapped the book shut, keeping it out of reach from Astra as she looked back to Amy's startled face, "Amy, you can't read ahead!"

"You mustn't," the Doctor shook his head hurriedly, stepping up beside the Time Lady, staring at Amy with wide eyes, "And…and you _can't_ do that!" he waved a finger at the book, almost shaking with how very bad this was, even Astra looked quite startled and worried.

Amy frowned at them, confused, "But we've _already_ been reading it," she pointed out, totally clueless as to what she had done and the impact that it now had on the timeline, though why would she? For all the years that she had spent travelling with them, she was still human and still incredibly ignorant about the rules of time.

"Just the stuff that's happening now, in parallel with us," he told her quickly, shaking his head firmly as he exchanged a look with the Hatter, "That's as far as we go".

"But it could help us find Rory!"

"And if you read ahead and find that Rory _dies_?"

Instantly, Amy paled and blinked rapidly, dawning realisation slowly starting to cross her face.

The Hatter sighed and closed her eyes tightly, "Amy, this book…" she opened her eyes again, holding the book up to show her the cover, "This isn't just a book about the future, it's about _our_ futures," she meet her eyes grimly, "The moment we begin reading it, it becomes a fixed point and after everything that has happened, you ought to know how serious that is".

The Doctor lowered his head, "I'm going to break something, because you told us that I'm going to do it," he looked back up to her, "No choice now".

Amy shifted slightly, "Time can be rewritten," she tried quietly.

"Not once you've read it," he shook his head, "Once we know what's coming, it's written in stone".

The Hatter swallowed, hard, and slipped the book inside her jacket pocket before reaching out to take Amy's hand in her free one, squeezing it gently, "The extractor fans should have cleared the air by now," she said, trying to move forward, glancing at the Doctor, "Come on".

She turned and began to lead the way back over to the TARDIS, mentally kicking herself for allowing Amy anywhere near the book when she should have known that Amy wouldn't understand the risk of reading ahead. She blamed herself for not thinking it through, she just hoped that whatever it was that the Doctor was supposed to break in the future would only be something very minor, the alternative made her feel slightly ill. The console room was clear as they entered, Amy still very quiet and pale as she moved to stand by the console, the Time Lady letting go of her hand to put Astra back into her baby seat, while the Doctor instantly hurried up to the controls, letting the doors close behind him.

"Okay, we need to find out what's happening on Rory and River's end," he said as he moved around the controls.

The Hatter straightened from the baby seat, lightly touching Astra's cheek as she did so, "On it, sweetheart," she called, fishing the book easily out of her pocket and carefully locating the correct page, trying very, very hard not to allow her eyes to wander to much in the process, but after flipping a few times, she managed to find the right one, "'The car pulled to a stop outside a large stone house and the suited goons that had been sent by Mr Grayle to collect us ordered us out of the car, escorting us inside the large, ornate entrance hallway,'" she read aloud, moving to stand beside Amy, "'Ah,' I said as I noticed a Chinese vase sitting on a table, smiling to myself, 'Early Qin dynasty, I'd say…'" the brunet grinned, snapping the book shut now that she had all the information that they needed, "Bingo!"

She slipped the book back into her jacket pocket and moved to help the Doctor at the controls, quickly moving around the panels, hitting buttons and flicking switches, preparing the time machine, taking great care with everything that she did. One mistake, one tiny miscalculation could be deadly.

"Okay," the Doctor said after a long moment, actually standing up on top of one of the control panels to reach one of the instruments that ran around the Time Rotor above the main controls, adjusting the settings on it, "Landing a plane in a timey wimey blizzard," he sighed slightly, twisting the dial, "We _could_ push through, but if we're out by a nanosecond, the engines will phase and we'll shatter the planet," he looked around the Time Rotor to the Hatter as Amy blinked, startled, "We need landing lights".

"Landing lights?" Amy questioned curiously.

"A signal that we can lock onto," the Hatter clarified for her, smiling as she moved around to the typewriter, "And thanks to future River, we've got one. Next stop, the early Qin dynasty".

…

The Time Lords and Amy, carrying Astra in her arms, stepped outside the TARDIS and into a decorating workshop in China, 221BC, finding several men very carefully working at tables that had been set up around the cramped room, carefully working on painting designs onto large bowls and vases.

"Ah, hello, yes," the Doctor smiled as they all stopped, turning to look at them in surprise and puzzlement, the Time Lady giving them a little awkward wave. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the psychic paper, flashing it at one of the men, who seemed to be in charge, "Special commission from the Emperor".

…

The Hatter's foot tapped impatiently against the glass flooring of the console room, looking up at the monitor screen over the controls, waiting for River to do her end of the work so that they could finally reach her and Rory. Astra, sensing her parent's emotions, huffed slightly from her baby seat and kicked her bright yellow shoes in the air. Thankfully, they didn't need to wait much longer before the console beeped and the word 'Yowzah' flashed across the screen in large letters, followed by a series of blinking red lights on the consol.

"Landing lights," the Doctor announced happily, catching sight of the screen, "We have a signal".

"Locking on!" the Time Lady called, feeling her hearts racing, practically imagining just how cross the Time Lords would have once upon a time been with them had they still been around, but she pushed the thought away as she grabbed the lever and the whole time machine jolted violently, the wheezing of the engines stuttering slightly as she reached over the controls to flick the blue stabiliser switches, but it only helped very slightly.

Astra giggled and clapped, enjoying all the jolting far more then what she really ought to be. The Hatter noticed, however, and gave the Doctor a pointed look, as if to say 'I blame you entirely for this,' earning a slightly sheepish smile in return from him as they held onto the console. After a tense few moments of almost being thrown around, the TARDIS landed with a hard thud that made the three adults fall onto the floor from the impact. Astra only giggled harder at that.

"She is so your daughter," the Hatter muttered as she pulled herself back onto her feet, rubbing her lower back as she threw the Doctor another look.

"You say that like it's a bad thing, Hatter," the Doctor remarked, climbing onto his own feet, giving her a slight pout.

"Somehow, the idea that my daughter finds most dangerous situation amusing does not ease my motherly concerns," she sighed heavily, practically dreading what Astra would end up growing up to be like if she kept this going, a little bit of healthy fear wasn't a bad thing, after all. Still, one part of her was happy that Astra was able to find amusement even in serious moments; it was a trait she herself always strived to encourage in others, after all, better to laugh then cower.

Amy shook her head and jumped onto her feet, "Come on!" she called back to them, already dashing down the stairs towards the doors.

"Just a moment," the Doctor told her, making her pause midway down the steps, looking back to them impatiently.

The Hatter quickly rounded the controls and bent down to unbuckle Astra from her seat, lifting the baby up into her arms before turning to quickly move to follow after Amy, the Doctor right on her heels with his hand lightly resting on her lower back as they hurried down the steps and over to the doors. Amy threw them open, practically running out into the large entrance hall that had several tables lining the walls around the room, most displaying a large Chinse bowl or vase, the TARDIS parked right beside the bottom of the dramatic, sweeping staircase that branched off, left and right, partway up.

"Rory?" Amy shouted, dashing up the staircase in search of her husband, while the Time Lords stepped out, "Rory?" her feet pounded on the wooden stairs, "Rory?"

The Hatter watched her disappear upstairs, but neither she nor the Doctor moved to follow her, instead walking straight past the stairs and over to where a large, middle aged man in a black, 30's style pinstripe suit was lying on his back, unconscious, papers littering the floor around him and even some broken China. The Time Lady frowned as she eyed the man, mildly concerned.

"Sorry we're late, honey," the Doctor said suddenly, making the brunet look up and break into a smile, catching sight of River standing in the next room, grinning widely back at them through the open doorway. He shrugged and opened his arms wider, "Traffic was hell".

River laughed, looking delighted to see them as the Hatter shook her head fondly and turned her gaze back onto the man lying on the floor. She knelt down carefully, balancing Astra with one arm as she reached out to press her fingers against the man's neck, the baby frowning in concern.

"He's just fainted from shock," she said, "He'll be perfectly fine".

"Not if I can get loose," River said firmly, shaking her head, any humour or happiness from before completely gone now.

The Hatter frowned over to her at her words, taking the Doctor's offered hand to help her straighten from the floor. Together, they walked over towards River, only to falter slightly in alarm at the sight of River's wrist trapped in the grip of a Weeping Angle that had been chained and manacled in an alcove, large curtains that had been pulled back from around it. It looked as though it had been practically tortured, something the Time Lady never thought she would actually see before, with large gashes running over the stony, snarling face of the Angle. She swallowed hard at the sight, clutching Astra tighter in her arms, practically feeling the Angle's silent pain and fury radiating off it, and that would be nothing to what the other Angle's would be feeling. They would be coming for it.

"Blimey…" she murmured, quickly looking back to River, "This is really not the 'hello' we were expecting".

River gave her a knowing look before breaking into a large smile, reaching out with her free hand to take Astra's hand, the baby smiling toothily and excitedly shaking River's finger, making River laugh.

"It's good to see you too, Astra," she said, catching the Time Lords eyes as they exchanged a fond look.

The Doctor shook his head, leaning closer to the Time Lady place a kiss on top of Astra's head before looking back up to River, "So where are we now, Doctor Song?" he asked her, raising his eyebrows, "How's prison?"

"Oh, I was pardoned _ages_ ago," she informed them casually, smirking back at them, "And it's _Professor_ Song to you".

"Oh?" the Hatter smiled slowly, her tone mock surprised, exchanging a knowing look with the Doctor, "How very interesting," she turned back to River, "I imagine there must be one _hell_ of a story behind that…"

"Mmm," she hummed, eyeing them knowingly, still smirking, "Turns out the people I killed never existed in the first place…" the Time Lords smiled at each other as she continued, "Apparently, there's no record of either of them _or_ their daughter. It's almost as if someone's gone around deleting themselves from every database in the Universe…"

The Doctor shrugged lightly, "You said we got too big," he said, which was very, very true. They had gotten too big, made it too easy for their enemies to track them down and figure out their next move. It had taken them quite some time, but eventually they had managed to completely erase any record of themselves from around the Universe, slipping back into the shadows of myths and legends again, just like before. They had even been careful to do the same with Astra, the fact that she was their daughter would always place her in danger, but if no one knew that Astra even existed, they could provide her with some protection. It wouldn't always work, they would be fools to believe that they would be able to hide forever, but if they could try to do it for as long as possible, they would.

"And now no one's ever heard of you. Didn't you used to be _somebody_?"

The Hatter raised her eyebrows, "Oh, and here I thought we were talking to the woman who killed the Doctor and the Hatter?" she said mockingly.

"Doctor who?" River asked, feigning ignorance, "Hatter who?"

She laughed, "You're cute," she told her, leaning forward to press a light kiss to her cheek, making her smile widely, before she suddenly grew serious, frowning as she looked at her wrist still grasped tightly in the Angle's stone hand, "How's your hand?"

River instantly lost her smile and glanced back at the Angle, "At least she didn't send me back in time," she commented grimly.

"I doubt she's strong enough," the Doctor shook his head, eyeing the Angle closely.

"Well, I need a hand back, so which is it going to be?" River looked back to the Time Lords, raising her eyebrows, "Are you going to break my wrist or hers?" the Time Lords froze and exchanged a quick look, before the Hatter shook her head and looked down. River blinked, closing her eyes, groaning slightly, "Oh, no. Really?" she looked back to them, frowning, "Why do you have to break _mine_?"

The Doctor looked at the Hatter, who shook her head again and looked back to River, her expression grave, "Because Amy read it in a book," he told River, speaking softly, "And now I have no choice," he looked back over his shoulder to where Amy was standing in the doorway, looking horribly guilty, "You see?"

Amy kept her eyes fixed on the floor, nodding.

"What book?" River questioned, confused.

"The book you will eventually write," the Hatter replied, reaching into her jacket pocket, shifting Astra slightly so that she could do so, and pulling the book out, holding it up for her to see the front cover, "Of course, because it hasn't even been written yet, we can't read it".

"I see," she eyed the cover; "I don't like the cover much".

She turned it back around and glanced at the cover, "Yes, I can't say I overly approve of it, as you godmother," she agreed, passing the book over to the Doctor, since she was finding it hard to juggle both Astra and the book.

"But if River's going to write that book," Amy began, stepping further into the office, looking eagerly to the Time Lords as she tried to make up for her mistake, "She'd make it useful, yeah?"

"I'll certainly try," River nodded, glancing back over to the Doctor and the book in his hands, frowning slightly, "But we can't read ahead, it's too dangerous".

"I know," she said quickly, frowning, "But there must be _something_ we can look at".

The Doctor looked back over to her, "What, a page of handy hints?" he suggested, almost rolling his eyes at the idea, while the Hatter looked thoughtful, "Previews, spoiler free".

"Oh!" the Hatter gasped, her eyes widening as she looked quickly at Amy, "Oh, well done, Amy," she grinned at her, realising exactly what she was referring to, though the Doctor and River still looked quite confused, and Astra was eyeing her curiously.

Amy smirked and lifted her chin higher, looking directly at the Doctor, "Chapter titles".

The Doctor clicked his fingers at her, flipping the book open and quickly looking down the first page, before smiling, "He's in the cellar," he announced.

Amy grinned excitedly, "Gimme!" she held out her hand, impatiently wiggling her fingers towards him, and the Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, throwing it over to her. She caught it and turned to dash out of the room, eager to see her husband.

The Hatter smiled, watching Amy disappear out the door and off down the hallway. The Doctor moved to follow her, but he paused to press a kiss to the Time Lady's cheek and one on top of Astra's head, silently agreeing that one of them ought to go after Amy while the other remained behind with River, especially if there was possibly more Weeping Angle's lurking around. But he had barely taken two steps towards the door when he froze, his entire body tensing.

"Sweetheart?" the Time Lady asked worriedly, eyeing his back. He didn't even look back to her, only making her feel even more nervous, "Doctor, what's wrong? Doctor, talk to me…"

He slowly lifted the book back up to his face and opened it, staring at the front page as he slowly reached out to steady himself on the back of an armchair beside him, turning partly towards them. His face had completely drained of all colour, making him look as though he was about to faint right there on the spot.

"Doctor?" River looked at him with wide eyes, before quickly throwing a frightened look towards the Time Lady.

The Hatter took a step towards him, reaching out to touch his back, "Doctor, what is it?" she tried again, her voice gentle, "Please, you're starting to scare me. Tell me what's wrong?"

The Doctor looked back up to her, staring at her with wide, heartbroken eyes that did nothing to ease her concerns, if anything it only made her feel even more terrified. Slowly, his hand shaking very slightly, he held the book out to her and she carefully took it, looking down at the list of chapter titles listed on the page…and that's when her eyes fell on it, the very final chapter, the words written in bold, black ink. A painful arch instantly spread through her chest and a lump formed in her throat:

Chapter twelve-Amelia's Last Farwell.

 _ **Oh no, we're so close to saying goodbye to the Ponds. I'm half dreading it right now, I've been writing Amy and Rory for so long now and they've become such an important part of the Doctor and the Hatter's lives, I just feel so sad already for what's to come. Get the tissues, ladies and gentlemen; the next chapter is going to be a sad one...though, a sad chapter means some sweetness to make up for it. Tell me what you thought, please review :)**_

 _ **Guest reviews:**_

 _ **Sam Fraser:**_ _ **I am so sorry; I can't believe I missed your first review on this. I must have gotten completely side tracked and completely forgot to go back, so thank you for reminding me. I must say, I'm personally not a big fan of Clara's whole story arc, either, I mean, it was already established that the Doctor picked the TARDIS himself, or rather the TARDIS picked him, why change that a season later with Clara? You also point out that Clara's whole life becomes about saving the Doctor, which is another thing that I don't like about her story, why does Clara's life have to revolve around the Doctor, which is how it feels to me, when I stop and think about it. I think Clara's story, her 'special' something that apparently all the modern companions have to possess in order to travel with the Doctor these days, was really quite wasted and it did feel a little bit like a mockery towards the Doctor's past companions, though I must confess to not quite seeing it as you do.**_

 _ **I feel like Clara's first season was so conflicting, the Doctor was constantly suspicious of her or suddenly flirting and basically saying that he found her attractive, while Clara's personality was also changing to suit. The first modern episode of her she didn't have a clue about computers, then she suddenly does, which, yes, I know they explained, but yet nothing more is ever mentioned of it ever again, which I personally found annoying. I feel like there was a lack of continuance during the Clara half of season seven, which I hope to, try, try, to find a way to resolve as much as a I can. Hopefully. Thanks for the review and I apologise again.**_

 _ **Guest 5:**_ _ **The Hatter did reassure the Doctor that he could go on after the Time War without her, though I know you haven't actually seen that yet, but I do intend to write that scene very, very soon. But that's the thing, it was at the very, very end of the Time War just mere hours before he would activate the Moment, he didn't have time to try to resurrect the Hatter like they did with Clara, his mission to protect the rest of the Universe and stop the Time War was simply to important, he understood that, even if it might have destroyed him, and so he had to keep to the mission. Oh, I imagine he would, however, given the fact that Gallifrey was gone, he really was out of options when it came to trying to get her back and I think, in the end, the Doctor respects the Hatter far too much to destroy the Universe just to get her back. The Hatter would never forgive him for that, after all, and it would never be her wish for him to go such lengths for her.**_

 _ **Guest:**_ _ **Well, I think that if the First or Second Hatter somehow ended up getting lost and wasn't found until the Doctor's later regenerations, that she would probably regenerate straight after being found. I imagine it would be a rather difficult regeneration, but the Doctor would be there and, even in his stunned state, he would do whatever he could to help her through it. I don't think he would tell her about exactly what happened to Gallifrey, I feel like he would probably try to keep the details from her for as long as possible out of shame, but eventually the Hatter would demand to know what he wasn't telling her, what happened to Gallifrey and why he refused to speak of it to her. As for their relationship, I think it would place a strain between them, but slowly they would grow closer in friendship and get to know one another again. I could kind of see Eleven or Ten possibly developing a bit of a crush on her, old feelings creeping back, while I think Nine and Twelve would feel incredibly protective over her, and Thirteen…well, we haven't really seen much of her yet, so I couldn't say. Who knows? Maybe she'd develop a bit of a crush, I don't know.**_

 _ **Sam Fraser (2):**_ _ **That's a rather sweet idea, I could certainly see One doing something like that, but we'll have to see. I don't like to make promises when it comes to my writing, not unless it's something that will have a great impact upon the story, but thank you for the suggestion :)**_

 _ **Guest (2):**_ _ **Ooh, that is a very good question. I think that if the Doctor, trying to cope with his grief for the Hatter, completely erased all memory of the Hatter and he ended up finding her again, I think he would probably find it hard to believe that he would have erased his memories in the first place, since the Hatter would have all of her memories, and would probably be a little dubious about what the Hatter was actually telling him about their past together. I think the Hatter would try to find a way to get his memories back for him and over the course of their adventures together, that the Doctor would become very invested in getting his memories back, too. I feel like he would start falling for her, even without his memories or previous history with her, because his feelings for her aren't just based on their past adventures, childhood, or shared memories, his feelings for her come from being attracted to her as a person. At the same time, I feel like the Hatter would try to almost distance herself from him to give him the chance to get to know her for her, not through stories that he has no memory of her being included in. That's a pretty basic summary of what I think would have happened if the Doctor had no memory of the Hatter, I hope it makes sense :)**_


	11. Chapter 11 The Angels Take Manhattan, P2

_**The Angels Take Manhattan, Part 2**_

The Hatter sucked in a deep breath, staring down at the words written across the page, so small and yet so very painfully meaningful. They had known that Amy and Rory's time travelling with them was coming to an end, soon enough they would have to admit that it was time for them to part, but somehow she had always thought that she would have known when it was their last adventure together, that she would just sense it between them so that when the adventure finally ended, it wouldn't be a shock, but merely a sad acceptance of what was happening. She hadn't expected it to be like this, like a harsh slap in the face that knocked the air out of her lungs and burned the back of her throat with the first hints of impending tears. Slowly, she looked back up to the Doctor's face and instantly her hearts constricted at the sheer look of sorrow written across his pale face.

"No…" she breathed, her hand holding the book shaking, while the arm holding Astra to her hip clutched the baby closer to her, "Oh, no…Doctor…"

"What is it?" River's urgent voice broke through the air, making her blink rapidly, barely even remembering that River was in the room with them, still trapped by the Angle, "Doctor? Hatter, what is it?" she asked again, the urgency and fear in her tone growing stronger, "Tell me…"

The Doctor shook his head harshly, his expression darkening, his sorrow turning to outright anger as the Hatter could only stare at him, knowing that he would take this the hardest out of the two of them. She loved Amy and Rory as much as he did, but he struggled the most with goodbye's, he was never going to be able to simply accept Amy and Rory giving up their adventures, but if it had been done gently, perhaps he could have come to terms with it slowly. But this…this was not gentle, this was anything but.

"Okay, I know that face," River said in a forced, calming voice, watching him worriedly as the emotions flashed across his features, his entire body practically shaking with anger. Astra hid her face in the Hatter's chest, frightened and horribly confused by what was happening, why her parents were so upset and angry, "Calm down," she told him firmly, "Calm down!"

"No!" he snapped, glaring at her furiously before turning towards the door.

"Talk to me, Hatter! Doctor!"

"No!" he shouted, and whirled back around. He stalked back over towards River, "Get your wrist out," he hissed, his voice barely above a whisper, "You get your wrist out without breaking it!"

"Doctor…" the Hatter swallowed, squeezing her eyes shut, hating to see him like this.

He gave River one last glare and marched back towards the doorway, leaving River staring after him with wide eyes, looking quite stunned.

"How?" she asked him, shaking her head.

"I don't know! Just do it. Change the future!"

The Hatter watched him disappear off down the hallway, resisting against the urge to run after him and pull him into her arms, to tell him that everything was going to be okay even though she knew very well that it wasn't going to be. But she didn't, instead she reminded herself that River needed her right now and the Doctor desperately needed to calm down because right now, there was nothing she could say or do that would help. It was a fixed point now, nothing could change that.

"It's…it's going to be alright, Astra," she gently hugged Astra to her, "Daddy's just…he's just very upset right now, but everything will be okay".

"Hatter," River said, making her look back over to her, "What's happened? I don't understand…" she shook her head, looking at her worriedly.

She considered telling her then, but she held herself back, Amy and Rory were her parents, after all. She didn't wish to place that sort of burden on River's shoulders right now, not when there was so much going on as it was, though another part of her felt conflicted. Perhaps River deserved to know all the more because of the fact that they were her parents, but not right now. Now, they needed to focus on getting her free from the Angle.

"Never mind all that," she told her quietly, taking a deep breath to try and clear her mind, pushing away her own pain for the time being. Carefully, she slipped the book back inside her pocket and moved to sit Astra down on the floor by the legs of the armchair, giving her a gentle smile and lightly touching her cheek, "Be a good girl for mummy now, Astra, and stay right there, okay?"

Astra nodded almost at once, apparently realising that to disobey her parents right now would not be a wise idea. The Hatter gave her another smile and straightened, moving back to River's side, but the moment she looked at her wrist, she felt her hearts drop again and a sickening feeling wash over her.

"You should go after the Doctor," River said, watching her closely.

The Time Lady sighed, looking back over her shoulder towards the door, "He's going to help Amy," she muttered, "Hopefully it will give him a chance to calm down a bit, make him a little less shouty and snappy. Now, your wrist…" she focused back onto River's wrist firmly in the Angel's grasp.

She looked back to it too, her expression grim, "There's only one way I'm getting out of this one and you know it, honeykins," she said calmly.

The Hatter met her eyes, grimacing at the thought, though she knew that to try and deny the truth would only waste more time. River was quite right, there was only one way that she could get free, the Angle certainly wasn't going to release her, so she would have to release herself…painfully and forcefully.

"It's going to hurt".

"It's not the first time I've broken something".

"That's really not something I want to know, River".

River gave her a very small smile, "You had better turn away," she warned her lightly, far to calm for the Hatter's own comfort when it came to the context of the conversation, "I don't want you to see this".

The Hatter frowned at her, opening her mouth to protest, when she paused and sighed. If River didn't wish for her to see her break her own wrist, then she would respect her wishes, it wasn't exactly something that she did wish to witness, anyway. She gave River a firm nod and touched her arm comfortingly, before turning and stepping back over to Astra, who hadn't moved an inch from where she had left her, picking the baby up. She covered Astra's ears, keeping her back turned on River as she squeezed her eyes shut…but it didn't stop her from flinching at the loud snap and pained gaps that came from behind her a moment later.

"River?" she turned back around, wincing at the sight of River clutching her hand to her chest and breathing sharply, her teeth gritted against the pain, looking a little unsteady on her feet. She moved to her side, eyeing her worriedly, "Just…breathe with the pain," she tried to urge her, rubbing her back soothingly as River tried to do as she said, "That's it, well done. What you did was incredibly brave," she gave her a forced smile.

"I didn't have much of a choice," River grimaced, her voice only wavering very slightly with pain, but she was doing an amazing job of concealing any hint of being hurt. It made the Hatter feel sick, knowing that she had been trained since birth to be able to do that.

"I know, and I'm so very sorry. What can I do to help?"

"My coat," she replied, nodding over to where her trench coat was on the other side of the room, by the paper littered desk. The Hatter nodded and moved to grab it for her, before returning to careful try and help her pull it on, the two of them managing it with only two hands between them. She meet the Time Lady's eyes as the pulled the cuff over her broken wrist, "Best not to let the Doctor see".

The Hatter frowned at that, "River…"

She gave her a sad, funny little smile, "Oh, I know what you're going to say," she cut across her, shaking her head, "You and the Doctor don't need to be protected or shielded, but you know how he gets".

She still didn't agree with the mentality that River seemed to have, however…in the Doctor's current state, perhaps it wouldn't be overly wise, though she still thought it ridiculous that River would ever feel as though she needed to pretend as though she was above human fragility. She might have some Gallifreyan DNA, but she was also very much human, just slightly more durable and long lived, but if that was what River wished, she would respect it. She sighed and gave her a nod, before turning to head for the door.

"I'll buy you a little bit of time to ready yourself," she told her over her shoulder, giving her a comforting smile. River nodded gratefully and she slipped out of the room, walking into the entrance hall, lightly bouncing Astra in her arms, just as the Doctor and a very upset looking Amy appeared from another doorway. She instantly frowned, noting that Rory wasn't with them, "What happened?" she asked them, concerned, "Rory…"

"He's been taken," the Doctor answered, shaking his head quickly as he moved to stand beside her, thankfully looking calmer then he had before, but he still seemed terribly agitated, "The baby Angle's already got to him…"

She blinked, her eyebrows rising, "Wait, there are _baby_ Weeping Angles?" she questioned, glancing at Amy, who had moved to sit on the steps before looking back to him, "Since when was that a thing?"

He almost cracked a smile at that, his expression softening very slightly as he reached out to take her hand, running his thumb over her knuckles, "It's nice to know that even now, there's still something new to learn, isn't it?" he remarked quietly.

"Life would be horribly boring if we had nothing new to learn, sweetheart".

"So, is this what's going to happen?" Amy asked suddenly, and the Hatter winced guiltily as she noticed her struggling to hold back tears, rubbing her hands together absently in her lap. She moved to sit beside her, settling Astra in her lap as she reached out to rub her arm comfortingly, but Amy kept her eyes firmly fixed on the wall ahead of them, as though afraid she might crack if she actually looked at either of the Time Lords, "We just keep chasing him and they keep pulling him further back?" she shook her head.

"He isn't back in time," River said as she walked into the entrance hall, holding her scanner device in her uninjured hand. The Doctor turned towards her, his eyes widening at the sight of her, but she kept her eyes on the screen of her device, "I'm reading a displacement, but there are no temporal markers," she looked up finally, glancing around at them, "He's been moved in _space_ , not in time, and it's not that far from here by the look of it".

The Doctor stared at her, slowly starting to smile, "You got out," he said happily, glancing over to the Time Lady, who struggled to even meet his eyes, knowing the truth.

Amy looked between them in frustration, growing annoyed, "So, where is he?" she demanded, wanting to know where her husband was, nothing else mattered to her.

The Hatter looked at River, raising her eyebrows, "River, location?"

River didn't even glance at her, while the Doctor paced impatiently, "If it was that easy, I'd get the Doctor to do it," she said teasingly, throwing the Doctor a pointed look that made the Time Lady laugh and Astra giggle.

"Oi!" the Doctor exclaimed, stopping his pacing to point accusingly at his wife and daughter, but they merely smiled innocently at him, looking more alike than ever before, especially since Astra's hair was getting longer. He shook his head at them, unable to help the small smile on his face at the sight of them looking at him like that, even if they were ganging up on him, but there was still something bothering him, so he turned back towards River, "How did you get your wrist out without breaking it?" he questioned, excited by the prospect that if River had managed to change time, then maybe there was still a chance…

River lowered the device, rolling her eyes, "You asked, so the Hatter did it," she told him, making the Hatter send her a sharp look, "Problem?"

"Believe me, I had _little_ to do with it," the Hatter said firmly, frowning. They hadn't discussed it, of course, but she wasn't overly keen on the idea of being forced into lying to the Doctor, not like this. Lying by omission for River, she would do it because that was what River asked and it was largely the truth, since she didn't actually do anything to help her escape, but River saying that she had actually helped her to escape was another sort of lie, one that she wasn't completely comfortable with, not when she knew how much this meant to the Doctor. Quite frankly, she wished that they weren't lying at all, but River had asked and it was important to her…she couldn't help feeling torn between her and the Doctor.

The Doctor broke into a wide smile, laughing as he glanced over to the Hatter and Amy, looking close to running over to the Time Lady and kissing her, but he held himself back, "You just changed the future, Hatter!" he said excitedly.

She winced at that, only just stopping herself from flinching as her gaze dropped down on top of Astra's head, avoiding his eyes in her guilt, "I'm not so sure about that…" she muttered, feeling her hearts sinking.

"Hush, now," River said hastily, throwing the Time Lady a slightly nervous look before turning back to her scanner, "I'm working".

The Doctor wasn't finished, however, still grinning and practically buzzing with excitement as he climbed up to the steps, sitting beside the Hatter, "Isn't your mummy clever, my little star?" he lightly tickled Astra's cheek, before kissing the Hatter's cheek as she could only feel even worse, wishing he would stop making a fuss over it, but she just couldn't get the words out, "Really, really good," he kissed her again, this time on the lips.

"Sweetheart," the Hatter began as he pulled back, frowning deeply, guilt bubbling up inside her, "Really, it isn't what you…"

"Ah!" River suddenly called, cutting her off before she could try to tell him that it wasn't what he thought, unable to stand seeing him so excited when the truth would crush him. Lying wasn't something she was used to doing when it came to the Doctor, she didn't wish to change that now, "Wherever it is, it's within a few blocks," she continued, looking at the screen on her device, before looking back up to them, smirking mischievously, "There's a car out the front. Shall we steal it?"

Astra cheered and clapped her hands, earning a disproving and amused looks from both of her parents.

The Time Lady couldn't help sighing, glancing at the Doctor, "I am so blaming you for that".

"So says the woman who stole her family's TARDIS," the Doctor reminded her, instantly making her blush and look away, unable to deny that. He smiled triumphantly, quite proud of himself for managing to actually win, for once, but he quickly grew serious as he jumped onto her feet, "Come on, show me this car!"

He practically skipped the last two steps and began to head for the door, grabbing River's hand as he passed, only for her to gasp painfully and instantly pull back. He stopped and looked back, his eyes widening as they fixed on her broken wrist, staring at the nasty bruise blooming across her pale skin and the very obvious, unnatural angle it was sitting on. Slowly, he looked back up to River's face as she stared at him, breathing heavily from the pain as Amy jumped onto her feet, alarmed.

The Hatter closed her eyes tightly, lowering her head, "River," she sighed, opening her eyes again to look across to her, the Doctor still staring at her, "Come here and let me take a closer look at your hand".

River glanced back at the Doctor before nodding, cradling her hand to her chest as she moved to climb up the steps to join the Time Lady, sitting beside her. The Doctor remained frozen for a moment, before he blinked rapidly and shook his head, moving to stand at the bottom of the steps as the Hatter watched him near, feeling River tense slightly beside her.

"Give me the scanner and vortex manipulator," he held out his hand towards River, who passed the device to him, while the Hatter helped her unbuckle the manipulator from around her wrist. He quickly turned away and moved across the room to where Amy had moved to stand, leaning against the wall, pulling his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket, flashing it quickly at the scanner, "Okay," he looked back up to Amy, "When all those numbers on both units go zero, that's when we've got a lock, okay?" he gave her both devices, giving her a small smile, "It's how we find Rory".

Amy met his eyes, nodding, "Got it".

He turned away and caught the Hatter's eye as she glanced up from carefully examining River's hand, Astra sitting very, very still in her lap and keeping her hands to herself. He sighed very slightly, walking over to them; sitting down on River's other side. He wasn't mad, not with either River or the Hatter, he was confused and felt horribly disappointed that they hadn't been able to change time, but angry? No, he wasn't, and not just because he always struggled to remain angry with the Hatter for very long, but because he just wanted to know why they felt the need to lie to him in the first place. He knew the Hatter; she wouldn't have just lied to him without a good reason.

"Why did you lie to me?" he asked after a long moment of silence.

River eyed him for a moment, "When one love's two ageless gods who insist on the faces of twelve year olds…" she began, glancing between them, making the Hatter frown slightly, "One does one's best to hide the damage".

"Oh, River…" the Hatter sighed, shaking her head as she gently lifted her hand back up and settled it into her lap again, already wondering if she might have some badges hidden away in her pockets to be able to wrap her hand up, just until they could get back to the TARDIS. She so wished that River didn't feel like that, that she would have that burden hanging over her head, but she also knew that nothing she could do or say would change her mind.

The Doctor frowned, too, and looked passed River to the Time Lady, exchanging a brief look. Slowly, he turned back towards River, "It must hurt," he said quietly, "Come here," he gently took her broken wrist in his hand, feeling guilty for how he had shouted at her to figure out how to get herself free now. He was an idiot, he knew there wasn't another way that she could get out, but he had still snapped.

"Yes," River nodded, staring at the wall ahead of them, swallowing hard, "The wrist is pretty bad too".

He glanced back to her face as she refused to look at him or the Hatter, before his eyes flickered over to the Hatter. She eyed him closely, already having a pretty good idea of what was going through his mind, she even briefly considered stopping him, but she could see the guilt on his face. He wanted to make up for what he had said to River before, to make amends, who was she to stop him from doing that? So, she gave him a small nod and smiled very slightly, making him smile faintly in return, turning his attention back onto River's hand, lightly grasping her wrist. Golden regeneration energy began to swirl around her wrist, making her gap and look down, startled.

"No," River shook her head quickly, her eyes widening as she frantically looked back up to the Doctor. She tried to pull away from him, but his hold was to firm, "No! No, stop that," she looked back to the Hatter, practically pleading with her to get him to stop, "Hatter, make him stop! _Stop it_!" she looked back to the Doctor, but it was already too late, the siphoned energy had already healed her wrist completely, not leaving a single mark behind.

The Doctor smiled, looking at her healed wrist, "There you go," he said happily, placing her hand gently back in her lap, looking rather pleased with himself, "How's that?"

River's expression was tense as she glanced down at her hand, turning it over, and the Hatter suddenly had a very bad feeling that this wasn't going to end very well, "Well, let's see, shall we?" she wiggled her fingers around experimentally for a moment, before suddenly slapping the Doctor's cheek, making his head whip back as the sound echoed around the room, his mouth hanging open. She glared at him angrily, while the Time Lady blinked and leaned back from her, as though afraid she might turn around and do the same thing to her next, "That was a stupid waste of regeneration energy!" she snapped, looking between them, "Nothing is gained by either of you being sentimental idiots!"

"River…" the Doctor started, frustrated, his cheek looking quite pink.

"Please, River," the Hatter sighed, reaching up to rub her forehead, while Astra looked rather alarmed.

She ignored them both and climbed onto her feet, "No, you embarrass me!" she huffed, storming off down the steps before the Time Lady could try and reach for her, knowing that she would.

"River!" the Doctor called after her, holding his arms up.

The Hatter groaned, watching her continue marching away from them and over to the front door, her coat flapping around her as she disappeared outside into the darken street, "River, he was just trying to help!" she tried, just wishing she would stop believing that it was her job to protect them, when really, it was the other way around.

Amy watched her daughter go before turning and walking over to the bottom of the stairs, her eyes narrowed on the Time Lords, though mainly on the Doctor, "Tell you what…" she leant down, bringing them eye level to her, "Stick to the science part," she shoved the scanner and time vortex into the Doctor's chest, before turning on her heel to follow River outside.

The Time Lady reached up to take her hat off, running her hand through her hair in frustration, the only solace to her right now was that at least River would have her mother to talk to right now, since she was apparently not in any mood to talk to either herself or the Doctor, not that she exactly blamed her for feeling that way. Perhaps it was a bit insensitive, now that she had a chance to consider it, but she truly had thought that it would cause any harm to just let the Doctor heal her hand for her, they were River's godparents, after all, and if they could help take her pain away, why shouldn't they? It wasn't River's job to protect them or shield them from the truth of reality, and they would gladly do whatever they could to help her, always.

The Doctor ran his hand down his face, his expression glum as he looked ahead of him, "Is this the part where you lecture me and go after Amy and River?" he sighed.

She frowned at that, glancing at the side of his face, "Of course not, Doctor," she told him, making him blink and look back to her, "I share some of the blame for why River is so upset, after all. Besides…" she paused, glancing down at Astra in her lap, who was fiddling with her necklace, "I think River needs some mother-daughter time right now".

"I was only trying to help…"

"I know," she cut across him, her voice gentle as she tilted her head slightly, resting it against his shoulder, "And I don't blame you for doing it, truly," he relaxed slightly and breathed a long, slow breath before leaning his own head against hers. Silence slipped over them for a moment, "Doctor…" she began, frowning slightly worriedly, "I'm sorry for lying before…River thought it would be best, given how upset you already were".

He closed his eyes, almost having completely forgotten all about the little lie after River had stormed out, it seemed rather trivial compared to everything that was going on with the Angles, Rory being missing, and the very real threat of losing the Ponds for good. He lifted his head very slightly and pressed a kiss to her hair, "I forgive you, dear," he murmured, smiling faintly, "Though, maybe you could find a way to make it up to me…"

The Hatter lifted her head from his shoulder, her cheeks colouring at the whole world of possibilities that he could be implying with his words, even if she imagined it would probably be quite innocent, such as making him breakfast in bed or letting him pick their next adventure. Even still, the twinkle in his eyes did nothing to help cool her face down.

"Doctor," she hissed out of the corner of her mouth, "Not now," she nodded pointedly down to Astra, even though the baby was blissfully unaware of anything, busy still playing with her mother's necklace and not at all interested in what her parents were discussing, which seemed to be very boring.

The Doctor gave her a mock scandalised look, "Why, Hatter, exactly what do you _think_ I was suggesting?" he smirked at her, enjoying watching her cheeks heat up even more.

She rolled her eyes, trying desperately to save her own embarrassment as she realised far too late that she had given him the perfect ammunition to embarrass her right now. She truly was getting slower in her old age, "Shut up, Doctor," she told him, giving him a mock warning look, "Or you won't be getting _anything_ , no matter how innocent".

He instantly straightened and gave her a salute, making her smile despite herself, just as he knew she would, "Yes, ma'am," he flashed her a grin as she laughed slightly, shaking her head. He snuck another kiss from her, feeling rather proud of himself before pulling away and grabbing Astra from her lap, settling her in his, "And now you, miss…" he started tickling her stomach, instantly making the baby squeal in delight and start squirming.

The Hatter laughed again as she watched them, so very pleased to see the Doctor's eyes lit up with happiness again, playing with Astra as though there was nothing to be worried about, as if they were just in the TARDIS again, having some downtime between their adventures, with nothing to worry about, no Weeping Angles or the possible end of Amy and Rory travelling with them. But reality always does have a way of reminding you that you can't escape forever and just as she was starting to relax, watching the Doctor start to playfully pretend to steal Astra's nose, did a small beeping noise sound. Instantly the mood changed and the Doctor froze, looking up to meet her eyes.

"Back to reality," she sighed, already feeling the lightness in her chest fading. The scanner that Amy had shoved at the Doctor had slipped onto the step beside them, and she picked it up to check the results, breaking into a relieved smile as a dot blinked over the map of New York, reading 'Winter Quay,' "We've found him," she told him, delighted as some of the tension in her shoulders lifted, "Winter Quay, not too far from here".

The Doctor smiled widely, quickly bundling Astra more securely to his chest as he and the Time Lady jumped onto their feet, running down the stairs and off through the entrance hall for the front doors. They spotted Amy and River the second they stepped outside, standing on the footpath below the stone front steps, just by a very shinny, well maintained black car, seeming to be speaking quietly to each other.

"Got it!" he called down to them, making Amy and River turn towards them, "He's in a place called Winter Quay…"

"Is this the car you spoke off, River?" the Hatter asked as she started down the steps, skipping two at a time, pointing to the parked car. She barely gave River a chance to even open her mouth, already shaking her head, "Excellent. Get in, you two! I'm driving…"

"No chance, honeykins," River replied instantly, already moving around to the left side of the car, making the Hatter pause as she reached the last step, blinking at her in surprise, "I've seen you drive a car, even the Doctor's driving would be safer".

"Ha!" the Doctor cheered, sticking tongue out at the Time Lady, joining her on the pavement.

The Hatter pouted slightly, her cheeks reddening, "I'm not that bad…am I?" she looked at her husband for reassurance.

The Doctor smiled slightly, "Dear, you've always been an excellent TARDIS pilot, but Earth cars?" he raised his eyebrows, grimacing slightly. He still recalled the time he let the Hatter drive them away from Martha's flat when the Master tried hunting them down, his neck still arched from the whiplash. They'd almost ended up getting hit by a truck since driving on the right side of the road was apparently more of a suggestion to the Hatter then an actual road law. No, better to let River drive, just this once, "Yeah…not so much," he gave her a fond look.

She sighed, looking slightly annoyed, "Fine," she huffed, "River can drive, but let's not forget that I used to drive Bessie all the time and we never once got into an accident!" she quickly pointed at him, eager to ensure that she saved some of her dignity.

"Bessie had been modified quite a bit…" he muttered to himself, though the Time Lady choose to ignore it, knowing perfectly well this argument could go on all night and they really did need to save Rory.

The Time Lady climbed into the back seat of the car, the Doctor slipping in just behind her and carefully settling Astra in his lap, frowning at the lack of seatbelts in the 30's, while Amy took the front passenger seat. Someone had fortunately left the keys still on the seat, so River didn't even need to hotwire the car as she started the engine and smoothly pulled away from the curb, speeding off down the road. River proved to be very good at driving, not spinning the wheels once and yet still managing to make record time through the streets of New York, which were oddly empty for a city known for never sleeping, and soon enough they were pulling up outside the large, Winter Quay apartment complex.

River frowned up at the building while Amy threw the passenger door open, looking frantically up at the building, "Why would they send him here?" she wondered aloud, glancing back in the revision mirror to the Time Lords, "Why not zap him back in time, like they normally do?"

"We'll know that when we know what this place is," the Doctor remarked, peering outside the window at the building, before turning to grab the doorhandle and swinging it open.

The Hatter passed River her scanner back, which was beeping and flashing red, singling that they had reached their location. She opened her own door and stepped out onto the slightly damp road, moving around the back of the car to join Amy and the Doctor, Astra reaching out towards the Time Lady with grabby hands. She took the baby from the Doctor and instantly Astra buried her face into her neck, apparently not in the slightest bit happy about where they were.

"This is the place, yeah?" Amy asked eagerly, looking to the Doctor and the Hatter, "Winter Quay?" she pointed over to the large plaque on the front, brick façade of the building.

The Hatter nodded, looking back up at the building, narrowing her eyes, "This is the place".

That was all that Amy needed to hear, instantly turning and sprinting towards the front steps of the building, the Doctor and, slightly slower due to not wishing to jostle Astra, the Hatter followed right on her heels. They dashed up the steps, but they barely even reached the door before it swung open on its own accord, creaking creepily as they found themselves looking into a short hallway that seemed to open up into a larger room. There was few lights lit around the room, causing large shadows to fill the corners and eerily silent. The Hatter couldn't help being reminded unpleasantly of the sensation of walking into a crept.

"Well…this is cosy," the Time Lady cleared her throat, glancing at the Doctor and Amy.

River quickly caught up to them, holding her still beeping scanning in her hand ahead of herself, "The signals come from the eighth floor," she informed them.

They made their way inside the lobby, which was only more dark and creepy then it seemed, and filed into the old fashioned lift, forced to squeeze themselves in together in order to fit into the tight space, the metal grating sliding across the doors as the lift began to rise. Astra tangled her fingers in the Hatter's necklace and top, her face still buried in her mother's neck, almost to the point where the Time Lady was starting to fear that the delicate metal chain on her necklace might snap, which really would be an achievement considering it was centuries old and made from the finest Gallifreyan metal that her family could afford. Yes, Astra really wasn't having much fun during this little adventure.

Finally, the lift reached the eighth floor and Amy immediately barrelled out the moment the grate across the door slide open, marching off down the darkened, long hallway.

"Rory?" she called loudly, passing doorways.

"He's close," River said, checking the readings on her scanner as she and the Time Lords trailed behind Amy.

"Rory!" she called more urgently, looking from door to door as she passed by it, when her footsteps faulted, coming across an open doorway of room eight hundred and two. She stopped, staring into the room, relief filling her face, "Rory!" she gasped, practically flinging herself through the doorway, opening her arms wide.

"Amy," Rory's relieved voice sounded a moment later.

The Hatter smiled as she reached the door, looking inside the flat's entrance hallway to see Amy and Rory locked in a tight hug, Rory's eyes squeezed shut in sheer happiness and relief. It was a lovely sight to witness.

"Doctor, Hatter…" River said suddenly, sounding quite tense. The Hatter dragged her eyes off the couple, turning towards River, only to find her staring directly ahead of them at something down the hallway. The Time Lady followed her gaze, tightening her hold on Astra at the sight of an Angle standing at the end of the hallway, its hands partly raised towards its face, smirking at them, just before the lights flickered, "Look at this," she breathed, almost fearfully, her eyes fixed on the Angle, "Why is it smiling?"

"It knows something we don't," the Hatter said softly, swallowing hard as a horrible, sinking sensation filled her chest, "Something very, very bad if it makes a Weeping Angle smile…"

"Hatter," the Doctor placed his hand on the small of her back, making her blink and look at him, "Look," he nodded to the wooden panelled wall beside the open flat's door where a small nameplate was just above the doorbell, reading 'R. Williams'.

Her eyes widened, meeting his urgently, "We have to leave, _now_!"

He nodded quickly, "Amy!" he shouted, "Rory!" he grabbed the Hatter's free hand and River's, pulling them with him as he bolted into the flat, "Get out of here!" he ordered them, just as the couple began to pull apart, Amy frowning at the open doorway at the end of the small hallway, "Don't look at anything! Don't touch…!"

"Who's that?" Amy asked, cutting across the Doctor, apparently not having listened to a word he had said, while River locked the door behind them and the Angle. Amy was too busy staring at the open doorway, through which they could see an elderly man lying in a bed in the next room, struggling weakly to try and sit up as he frantically pointed towards them, his old eyes wide.

"Amy," the man rasped desperately, his lined, aged face filled with pure love and happiness, all of his attention completely fixed on Amy, "Amy, please…" he broke off with a wheezy, weak cough, still reaching out towards her as Amy slowly walked across to the bed. The Doctor turned away from the scene, closing his eyes tightly as the Hatter squeezed his hand comfortingly, "Amy, please," he continued as Amy, hesitating, took his hands, "Please…"

She slowly crouched down beside the bed, frowning as she stared at the man who coughed and breathed heavily, "Rory?" she said quietly, before looking back over her shoulder to where Rory, her Rory, was still standing, looking horribly confused, "He's you".

Older Rory's eyes began to flicker closed, his head sinking further back onto his pillow as his breathing grew heavier, "Amy," he breathed, a faint smile crossing his lips as his breathing stopped completely.

The Hatter closed her eyes sadly, bowing her head respectfully, resisting against the urge to let go of the Doctor's hand to remove her hat. The Doctor still had his back turned on the bedroom, sorrow etched into his features, knowing that everything was slowly starting to build up to the moment were they would say goodbye to Amy and Rory.

Rory turned towards them, "Will someone please tell me what is going on?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, Rory," the Doctor began softly, finally turning around to face him, "But you just died".

His eyes widened and he quickly looked to the Hatter, seeking reassurance that the Doctor was wrong, that he was mistaken, but the Time Lady meet his eyes sadly, lightly shaking her head. He swallowed, hard, slowly looking back over to bed where Amy was still crouched beside, staring at the older version of Rory's lifeless body.

The Hatter silently passed Astra to the Doctor, before moving to pat Rory's back as he looked on in shock at his future self, but he barely even seemed to notice, still too stunned. She sighed sadly as she noticed Amy and slipped into the room, moving around to the side of the bed and taking hold of the edge of the blanket, pulling it over older Rory's face. What a mess this was.

"Amy," she turned towards Amy then, reaching out grasp her upper arm, "Come on, Amy. I'm so sorry, but there's nothing more that can be done…" she gently pulled her up from the floor, wrapping a comforting arm around her as Amy sniffed slightly, seeming to only just realise that she had been crying slightly as she quickly reached up to wipe her eyes without ruining her makeup.

The Doctor cleared his throat, casting his eyes around the room, "This place is policed by Angels," he told them, trying to move forward, while Astra clutched the lapel of his blazer, "Every time you try to escape, you get zapped back in time".

"So this place belongs to the Angels?" Amy frowned, shaking her head, her voice still sounding a little chocked after her tears, "They _built_ it?"

"It's actually quite genius, if you think about it," the Hatter remarked thoughtfully, only to wince slightly as almost everyone gave her a quick look, save for the Doctor, "I said it was _clever_ , not _good_ ," she reminded them hastily, "Look, when you displace someone in time, that then creates something called time energy, which is what the Angels feed on," she explained to them, "Ordinarily, they would get one quick meal to satisfy them and that was it, but…" she held up a finger, "If they could keep their victims in one spot, feed off their time energy for as long as that victim lives…" she waved a hand around the room, her expression grim.

"This place is a farm," the Doctor nodded, realising what she was saying, "A battery farm. How many Angels in New York?" he suddenly pointed at River.

"It's like they've taken over every statue in the city," River replied, making the Hatter sigh, shaking her head gravely.

"The Angels take Manhattan because they can, because they've never had a food source like this one. The city that never sleeps".

Suddenly, from outside, a loud thud sounded from in the distance; almost sounding like a very large footstep, before another similar noise came, followed by another. They all froze and turned towards the window, alarmed as they listened to the strange noise near.

"What was that?" Rory questioned nervously, staring at the window.

The Hatter caught the Doctor's eye as he looked away from the window, noting the way that his arms tightened protectively around Astra, one hand reaching up to cup the back of her head into his chest. He was frightened, very much so and she instantly felt her own hearts start to pound in her chest. They should never have taken Astra with them; they should have dropped her off with one of their friends before trying to find Rory and River.

"I don't know, Rory," she said quietly, swallowing hard as she looked over to him. She eyed him closely, licking her lips, "But…whatever it is, I think it's quite certain that it's coming after _you_ ".

His eyes widened, staring at her, "What does that mean?" he demanded, holding his hands out on either side of himself, making her wince, "What is going to happen to me?" he moved closer to her, forcing her to look at him, "Hatter, please…what is physically going to happen?" he asked, his voice softening very slightly.

"The Angels will come for you," the Doctor said grimly, wanting to save the Hatter from having to be the one to tell him, seeing the pained look on her face as she went to open her mouth. Everyone looked at him, but he kept his gaze on Rory, "They'll zap you back in time to this very spot, thirty, fifty years ago," he sighed, "And…you'll live out the rest of your life in this room, until you die in that bed".

"And will Amy be there?" he asked, after a brief moment, the thumping noise outside growing louder and more frequent. The Hatter smiled sadly at that, glancing at Amy beside her, Rory didn't even seem to care about the fact that he would die in the wrong time, stuck inside the same building and room for the rest of his life, all he wanted to know was that Amy would be there beside him.

"No".

Amy frowned, crossing her arms across her chest, "How do you know?"

"Oh, Amy," the Hatter said sadly, looking at her, her face full of sympathy, "You saw the way he looked at you, the pure happiness and desperation to see you again. How could we _not_ know?"

Amy quickly looked over to Rory, eyeing him with a hint of fear starting to cross her face now. Rory glanced back to her and swallowed, before turning back towards the Time Lords.

"Okay," he began heavily, forcing a smile, "Well, they haven't taken me yet," he said lightly, clapping his hands together as he looked around the room, but his attempt to seem unconcerned completely failed, "What if I just run?" he looked between the Time Lords, "What if I get the hell out of here? Then _that_ …" he pointed back over to the bed to where his future self still laid covered, "…never happens".

"It's already happened," the Doctor shook his head firmly, "Rory, you just witnessed your own future".

"Doctor, he's right," River said quietly, still keeping guard over the door.

He frowned at her, "No, he isn't".

The Hatter, on the other hand, was eyeing River thoughtfully; "Perhaps…" she started slowly, earning a slightly startled look from the Doctor, while the others looked hopefully to her. She glanced at Rory, "I mean, if Rory did manage to escape, _somehow_ …it would cause a massive paradox..."

The thumping outside sounded again, this time making the walls and floor shake faintly, "What _is_ that?" Amy asked, looking around the room as the mild shaking calmed.

"This is the Angel's food source," River looked quickly to the Doctor, boosted by the fact that the Hatter seemed to be starting to agree with her, it was just the Doctor who still needed to be convinced, "The paradox poisons the well. It _could_ kill them all," she blinked as it hit her just what that would actually mean, while Rory looked quickly back to the Time Lords, "This whole place would literally un-happen".

The Doctor glanced at the Time Lady, who still looked as though she was seriously considering this, before shaking his head, "It would be almost impossible," he insisted.

She smirked in a very Hatter-like manner, crossing her arms across her chest, "Loving the almost".

"It would be a stretch," the Hatter agreed, nodding slowly, "And it would certainly be incredibly difficult to pull off, the amount of power needed to even attempt such a thing alone is truly unimaginable…"

"Exactly, dear," the Doctor cut in hurriedly, pointing at her, pleased that she seemed to still be on his side, even if she still seemed to be willing to consider it, "What have we got, eh?" he looked back around the room, raising his eyebrows, "Tell me. Come on, what?"

Amy walked over to Rory's side, taking his hand as she looked back up to the Doctor and the Hatter, "I won't let them take him," she told them, her expression determined, "That's what we've got".

The Hatter couldn't help smiling at that, looking quite proud as she glanced at the Doctor. Even he couldn't stop the faint smile from crossing his lips, oh, the Ponds...always so determined, so stubborn, and just so…beautifully _human_. Amy and Rory, despite all that they had faced and been forced to endure; they stuck together no matter what, even against the impossible they would fight and never leave the other behind. It warmed the Time Lords hearts to see how far they had come, the love that they shared for one another that not even time itself could stop. They truly were an inspiration and no matter what might happen, no matter if this was their final adventure together, it had been a privilege and an honour to bear witness to Amy and Rory's relationship.

"Well said, Amy," the Time Lady smiled widely, almost feeling moved to tears. She truly did love them both so very dearly.

More footsteps sounded outside, making everyone glance back towards the window, but still they could see nothing, not from the side of the building that they were on, anyway.

"Whatever that thing is," Rory let go of Amy's hand, moving closer to the window, "It's getting closer".

"Rory," the Doctor turned back to face him, his expression very, very serious. He needed to make sure that he understood exactly what he was suggesting, that he knew the risks and the very real threat, "Even if you could get out, you'd have to keep running for the rest of your life. They would be chasing you _forever_ ," he looked at him firmly, but Rory simply shrugged carelessly, as though it didn't matter to him.

"Well, then," Amy said determinedly, walking over to the door and grasping the doorhandle, looking back over her shoulder to them, "Better get started," she pulled the door open, revealing an Angle standing in the hallway outside, its stone mouth opened wide in a silent snarl and its clawed, stone hand raised, ready to strike. She stared at it, her voice light and calm, "Husband, run!"

Rory pattered the Doctor's shoulder and quickly gave Astra a fleeting smile as the baby pouted at him, not at all liking the idea of Amy and Rory having to spend the rest of their life running from scary, stone Angels. He surprised the Hatter by actually giving her a quick hug, it barely lasted four seconds before he was already pulling away to join Amy at the door, but without a doubt it had been a hug. He and Amy carefully edged around the Angel in the doorway, watching it all the while as they took off running down the corridor for the lift, while the Doctor passed Astra over to the Hatter before grabbing his sonic out of his pocket.

Two more Angels appeared outside the door, both snarling and with their clawed hands raised threateningly as the Time Lords and River gathered around the doorway, their eyes fixed on them. Astra gave a little frightened cry, not at all liking the Angels as she buried her head in the Hatter's chest.

"It's okay, my darling," the Hatter murmured to her, already feeling her eyes start to water unpleasantly from looking at the Angels, "Hush, now".

"Hatter, River…" the Doctor said softly, looking quite nervous and afraid. He was painfully aware that his wife and daughter were right beside him, in the very grips of danger were anything could possibly go wrong, just from one simple blink or wrong move, "I'm not sure this can work".

"Sweetie, shut up," River told him quickly, her eyes fixed on the Angels.

"Agreed," the Time Lady added at once, swallowing nervously as she wrapped her arms more securely around Astra, her mind racing with every single horrible, terrible thing that could very well go wrong, not that she was going to admit aloud just how frightened she was right now, "We can do this," she said firmly, pleased that she sounded far more confidant then she truly was, "We just have to work together, okay?"

"Okay," the Doctor replied, and River nodded.

Together, they began to move forward, but just as they took a step out into the hallway the lights flickered and they were forced to flinch back, just as the lights turned back on to reveal the Angels had edged closer, blocking the doorway. The Hatter gave a shaky gasp as Astra began crying in her arms, just as the lights went out again and they scuttled backwards as the lights came back on, the Angels now right in the room, looming over them with raised arms, reaching for them. The Doctor frantically aimed his sonic screwdriver up at the ceiling light, desperately trying to keep it lit while the Hatter and River kept their eyes on the Angels, the Time Lady blindly pulling a bright pink papoose out of her pocket one handed and slipping it on. She was very, very pleased that she had spent so many hours practicing putting a papoose on one handed and running, just in case something like this happened.

"We can't keep doing this," the Doctor breathed tensely, staring at the Angel directly in front of him, his back pressed against the Hatter's.

"Any ideas?" River asked, blindly trying to help the Time Lady pull the straps securely around Astra, the Time Lady trying to work as fast as possible.

"What do you think?" the Hatter said as she finished strapped Astra into the papoose, licking her lips nervously, her eyes watering painfully, "Run!"

They made a mad dash for the doors, still making sure to keep an Angel in sight at all times, even though it meant that the Doctor was forced to run backwards and very nearly ended up knocking into a small table on the way out. Thankfully, they managed to make their escape, the lights holding long enough for them to get out into the hallway and slam the door of Rory's flat behind them. They began to make a run for the lift, only to stop short at the sight of an Angel standing guard over it, snarling silently back at them.

"The stairs!" the Doctor shouted, grabbing the Hatter and River's hand, pulling them off towards where a door with the words 'Staircase' was, River keeping her eyes on the Angel standing by the lift doors. The Doctor threw the door open and he and the Time Lady dashed through onto the landing, but as they moved to look over the railing, it was to find more Angels waiting for them on every level, completely blocking them. The Time Lords hurried back through the stairwell door, River still keeping the Angel at bay, "Okay," he grabbed River's hand again, frantically looking around for an escape, "Fire escape!"

They dashed over to where a window was, River looking back over her shoulder to the Angel by the lift, while the Doctor grabbed the edge of the window and roughly pulled it open. He went to move aside to let the Hatter and Astra go first, but the Time Lady was already shaking her head, pushing him towards the window.

"Skirt!" she reminded him sharply.

He opened his mouth to argue, to insist that she go first, but they really didn't have time to be discussing it, so he scrambled over the window ledge and out onto the metal grating of the fireplace, quickly climbing up the ladder as the Hatter and River followed behind him. Thankfully, it seemed as though the Angels weren't able to climb ladders, so they managed to avoid running into anymore of them as they climbed the fire escape all the way up to the roof. It would have been impossible for Amy and Rory to have escaped via the stairs or the lift, meaning there was only one way they could have gone: up.

"…no, I can't take you too!" Rory's voice drifted down to them as they neared the roof, sounding horrified.

"You said we'd come back to life," Amy's voice followed, sounding completely calm, but her words only made the Hatter climb faster, "Money where your mouth is time".

"Amy, look…"

"Shut up! Together, or not at all".

The Doctor was just about to climb over the ledge of the roof, when his entire body tensed and the Hatter frowned worriedly, wondering what was wrong, "What the _hell_ are you doing?" he demanded loudly, leaping down onto roof, appalled.

The Hatter climbed the last few steps and gasped, her eyes widening at the sight of Amy and Rory standing on the other side of the roof up on the ledge, their arms wrapped around each other. They didn't even blink or glance at them, staring back into each other's eyes, "Amy," she began carefully, hopping down onto the roof beside the Doctor, River coming to stand beside her, "Rory…."

"Changing the future," Amy smiled softly, not looking away from Rory's face as she reached up to gently cup his cheek, "It's called marriage," she and Rory continued gazing into each other's eyes, just as they both tipped sideways right off the edge of the building, disappearing from sight over the ledge.

"No!" the Hatter screamed, sickening horror filling her.

"Amy!" the Doctor cried, his voice already starting to chock with tears as they ran for the ledge, "Amy!" he yelled over the edge, unable to do anything but watch as Amy and Rory plummeted further away from them, wrapped in each other's arms, Amy's hair swirling around them.

"Rory," the Time Lady breathed, staring over the edge in despair. She felt sick watching them move closer to the ground, unable to do anything as her hearts pounded and she felt sick, "Amy…what have you done?" she blinked back tears that sprung up her eyes, still in shock.

"Doctor!" River suddenly shouted, "Hatter!" slowly, the Time Lords turned around, their eyes widening as a massive ball of bright white energy appeared crackling in the air on the other side of the roof, swirling and flickering in the air as the entire building began shaking, "What's happening?" she asked loudly.

The Hatter suddenly began laughing, her eyes clearing of tears. She felt silly now for having reacted the way she had, realising that Amy and Rory had done the only thing that they could have done to get them out of this whole mess, "It's the paradox!" she cheered, reaching out to grasp River's hand, while the Doctor wrapped his arm around her waist, the wind and shaking growing worse, until they were struggling to even keep their balance, "They did it, they actually did it!" she giggled excitedly, pressing a kiss down onto Astra's head.

"It's working!" the Doctor grinned, looking around in delight as the energy grew, crackling like lightening in the air, "The paradox is working!"

The energy grew and grew, the light ever increasing, blinding them until…

…

The Hatter broke into a wide grin, laughing as she found herself lying on her back, staring up at the bright blue sky above her head and the sound of birds chirping cheerfully in the distance, the warmth of the sun positively wonderful against her cheeks. Astra gave a little annoyed huff and she laughed again, realising that while she had been lying flat on her back, poor Astra had been doing the same, still strapped to her papoose but far from pleased, even if they had escaped from the scary building with stone angels. Someone joined in with her laughed and she turned her head, grinning at the sight of the Doctor lying on his back beside her, smiling fondly at her as his fringe dangled in his eyes.

"Need a hand, dear?" he asked her brightly, raising his eyebrows with a teasing glint in his eyes.

She nodded eagerly, knowing she would make a very disgraceful attempt to rise in her current position with Astra still strapped to her chest, counterbalancing her, "Please".

The Doctor sprung onto his feet and reached down to help pull the Hatter up onto her own two feet, the baby smiling happily and clapping her hands, while the Time Lady exchanged a look with the Doctor. River laughed softly, standing a few feet away with her scanner in her hand, apparently having found the Time Lady's predicament amusing. The Hatter did note that she didn't offer to help her, though probably because River knew well enough that the Doctor loved every chance to play the gentlemen.

"Thank you, sweetheart," the Time Lady kissed his cheek, making him look quite smug. She adjusted the strap digging into her shoulder more comfortably, casting her eyes around the same graveyard that they had been in before going after Rory and River in 2012, "Where are Amy and Rory?" she asked eagerly, wanting to get to them and hug them tightly.

His eyes lit up and he grabbed her hand, practically pulling her along after him as they began to move between headstones, looking for Amy and Rory, just as a few feet away, hidden partly behind two headstones, they suddenly popped up from where they had apparently been lying.

"Where are we?" Rory asked at once, looking around, his back to where the Time Lords where.

"Back where we started," the Doctor called over to them, grinning as he and the Time Lady neared them, the humans quickly scrambling onto their feet, "You collapsed the timeline," he told them proudly, letting go of the Hatter's hand to briefly grab Rory's face, while the Time Lady instantly moved to pull Amy into a slightly awkward hug with Astra between them, "The paradox worked!" he continued, looking as though he was struggling not to hug them himself, the Time Lady releasing Amy to hug Rory tightly, "We all pinged back where we belong".

"What, in a graveyard?" he frowned at the Doctor, just as the Time Lady released him to step back beside the Doctor.

"This happened last time," Amy commented, narrowing her eyes in confusion, "Why always here?"

"Maybe we'll find out one day," the Hatter said dismissively, far too happy to simply be reunited with Amy and Rory again, smiling brightly at them both, "That's usually how it works, time's funny like that. It sometimes like's to give you a hint to your future, years or centuries before you live it," she looked back over towards the city's skyline, taking a deep, relieved breath, "The main thing is that we didn't end up destroying the city, it certainly won't be advisable to be going back to that time in New York's history now," she exchanged a grim look with the Doctor, her smile slipping.

The Doctor nodded, "The timelines are too scrambled," he agreed, before glancing back to Amy and Rory, his expression softening as he looked at them both, sighing in relief, "I could have lost you both," he breathed, pulling them into a tight hug, making the Hatter smile gently at the sight, "Don't ever do that again".

"And we mean it," the Time Lady added sternly, giving the humans a little wink when they looked at her, making them smile.

"What did we do?" Rory asked, frowning slightly, puzzled, "We fixed it. We solved the problem".

"I was talking to myself," the Doctor replied, pulling back from them to give them a grin, before pressing a quick kiss on top of Rory's head, before doing the same to Amy, making them both laugh. He whirled around and took the Hatter's hand, making a show of lifting it up to his lips and kissing her knuckles, while the Time Lady rolled her eyes fondly, before doing the same to Astra.

"Come along, Doctor," the Hatter said in a mock firm tone, though she was unable to help the grin from twisting her lips, "Let's go check up on the old girl, she looks a little worse for wear," she sighed, casting the TARDIS a sorry look, the paint looking quite chard and fire damaged as River already began trying to clean it with a bucket of water and a cloth.

"TARDIS!" Astra suddenly cried, making everyone freeze, their eyes widening as they looked to the baby, clapping excitedly, "TARDIS! TARDIS!"

"Astra!" the Doctor exclaimed, the Hatter's mouth positively hanging open in shock, staring down at the baby still strapped to her front, "You said you first word!"

Astra giggled, still clapping happily, looking quite proud of herself as Amy and Rory exchanged an amused and fond looks, delighted to have witnessed Astra speak for the first time, alongside the Time Lords.

The Hatter opened and closed her mouth, "But…you…" she shook her head, struggling to try and regain some composer as she narrowed her eyes on the baby, "I knew you could talk! Why, you little cheeky…." she trailed off as her eyes light up, unable to stop the wide smile from crossing her face as it suddenly hit her that Astra had said her first word, her first _proper_ word, and she'd heard it!

"Taking after her mother, again," the Doctor laughed, wrapping his arm around the Time Lady and leaning down to press a kiss on top of Astra's head, looking incredibly proud of his daughter, "I suppose saying 'Mummy' or 'Daddy' was never going to be enough for you, was it, my little star?" he remarked, making Astra giggle again, "To cheeky and clever for that, hey?"

"You should have known it'd be something like TARDIS," Amy smiled, looking amused. Personally, she had suspected that Astra's first word would end up being something like 'hat' or 'sonic,' but 'TARDIS' really should have been the most obvious choice. That, or 'run'.

"TARDIS!" Astra cheered again, "TARDIS!"

The Doctor and the Hatter exchanged bright, delighted smiles, so very proud of their little girl, though of course the trick now wouldn't be encouraging Astra to talk, but trying to find a way to stop her. That, sadly, seemed like a challenge that not even they would be able to overcome considering their own failure at keeping their own mouths shut for longer than five minutes, on a good day. Still, it was every parent's delight to witness their children reach their first millstones, now all Astra needed was to start walking and there would be no stopping her. That was equally exciting and terrifying.

"Okay, my darling," the Hatter laughed, shaking her head fondly, feeling as though Astra might have found her favourite word. No wonder the old girl was so fond of Astra, apparently they were already best friends, "Come on, let's go see the TARDIS and help Auntie River make her clean again, yeah?"

Astra eagerly nodded and began squirming in her papoose, apparently not wanting to wait. The Time Lords exchanged fond looks before turning to head back over to the where the time machine was parked, just as River appeared from around the back of the box, still with the bucket and cloth in her hand. The Time Lady made a mental note to tell River about Astra's latest development, though she expected she probably already knew all about it, considering the timelines.

"It could do with a repaint," River said as she looked up as they neared.

"We've been busy," the Doctor told her quickly, running his hand over the charred side pane. The Hatter smiled and gave River a look, before unlocking the door and slipping inside, her shoulders starting to arch from the papooses straps, Astra would be happy enough in her seat inside the console.

River looked up to the light on top of the TARDIS, eyeing it, "Does the bulb on top need changing?"

"I just changed it," he sighed. Honestly, sometimes River truly did sound so much like the Hatter, the nagging side right now, though thankfully that side rarely came out in the Time Lady unless she was already annoyed at him for something.

"So…" she began, sitting her bucket down on the grass beside her and lifting the cloth up to start scrubbing the panel, just as the Hatter stepped outside, leaving the door ajar, "Rory and Amy, then," she glanced back over to her parents.

"Yes, I know, I know…" he gave her an exasperated look, while the Hatter smiled, leaning against the doorframe.

"I'm just saying. They're going to get terribly bored hanging round here all day".

"Doctor, Hatter…" Rory called as he and Amy walked closer between the headstones. The Doctor turned around and grinned, holding his hands up in the air, simply overjoyed that everything had turned out fine and well, "Look, never time, could we just go to the pub?" he asked, his hands inside his jacket pockets.

"I want to go to the pub right now," the Doctor said brightly, looking eagerly to the Hatter, who laughed at his excitement, "Um, are there video games there?" he looked hopefully to the humans and back to the Time Lady, smiling like a six year old at the prospect, "I love video games…"

"Don't play against him," the Hatter warned them quickly, pointing her thumb back to him and narrowing her eyes, "He likes to cheat".

"I do _not_ cheat!"

"Oh, you so do! You cheat at every game we play, it's really quite absurd that you think I don't notice, sweetheart…"

"Right," River cut in, giving the Time Lords a quick look as the Hatter rolled her eyes, crossing her arms across her chest as the Doctor pretended to look offended. She shook her head, picking her bucket back up and smiling at her parents, "Family outing, then… _without_ video games," she added, giving the Time Lady a wink.

The Hatter pointed at her, nodding approvingly, "Wise," she said, sticking her tongue out at the Doctor, who pouted. She hardly seemed to notice, happily turning on her heel and strolling back inside the console, River and the Doctor trailing behind her, while Amy and Rory remained outside.

"I don't cheat," the Doctor muttered, following the girls up to the controls, still looking rather putout. Even Astra laughed at that, happily settled in her chair, her teddy bear, Cyril, dangling from her hand.

"Yeah, you do," the Time Lady said without glancing at him, moving around the controls, checking to make sure everything was in order before they try taking off and end up blowing up something up, which was likely considering the day the TARDIS had had.

"How many times are you going to have this argument?" River asked casually, though she still looked highly amused as she moved to sit down on the seat beside Astra, playfully tugging on Cyril's leg.

"Sadly, River, I doubt we'll ever stop fighting about this," she shook her head, frowning absently at a small burn make on one of the controls, "We've been having it since we were thirty, at the very least".

"And I still stand by me not being a cheater," the Doctor insisted at once, crossing his arms across his chest and lifting his chin defiantly. If he though it made him look anything but a stubborn twelve year, he was gravely mistaken.

The Hatter laughed and moved around the controls towards him, rather eager to take the chance to tease him some more, when a horrible scream cut through the air that made her blood run cold.

"Doctor!" Amy shouted frantically from outside, "Hatter!"

The Doctor, the Hatter, and River didn't hesitate, immediately bolting for the door and back outside to the graveyard, only to find Amy standing before a Weeping Angle, Rory nowhere in sight. The Angel had its arm held out directly ahead of itself, one finger raised, as though pointing or…reaching to touch something, the Time Lady realised with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Oh no, no...not Rory, _please_ , not Rory…

"Where the hell did that come from?" River gasped, her eyes widening, staring in horror at the Angel.

"It must have been a survivor," the Hatter said quietly, reaching out to grab the Doctor's hand, starting to feel her entire body shake. Rory was still missing, nowhere in sight and the way that Amy had screamed, that hadn't just been terror at the sight of an Angel, that had been so much more, "It must have been further away than the others, but it'll be weak. Don't take your eyes off it, though, it's still strong enough to be a threat".

"Where's Rory?" Amy asked, her eyes still fixed on the Angel, but her voice…the first hints of tears were beginning to creep into it, trying to stay strong and calm, even though she felt anything but right now.

Slowly, the Time Lords began to creep forward, not taking their eyes off the Angel, edging closer until they were level to where Rory must have stood when the Angel had appeared behind him, right next to a headstone. The Hatter gasped, her free hand flying up to cover her mouth to try chocking back a sob as she read the words engraved across the stone, grey surface of the headstone:

 _In Loving Memory_

 _Rory Arthur Williams_

 _Aged eighty two_

"No…" the Hatter breathed, pain and grief crossing her face, hitting her with such a force that she almost felt her knees buckle, the words swirling through her mind. She felt certain that she would have completely crumbled had the Doctor not been beside her, holding her hand still, keeping her tethered to the moment. Rory…oh, Rory, sweet, loyal, kind, clever Rory who was willing to wait two thousand years to be with the girl he loved and still, somehow, managed to find a way to forgive her and the Doctor for the part they had played in the loss of his daughter. This was not how it was supposed to end, they had reassured Brian that they would keep his son safe, and now…they had failed, once again, they had failed another friend.

The Doctor squeezed her hand, swallowing hard and painfully as he forced himself to look back over to Amy, but he couldn't meet her eyes, not this time, not when he had to break her heart and tell her that the love of her life…was gone, "I'm sorry," he said softly, staring at the grass by her feet, "Amelia…I'm so, so sorry…"

"No," Amy shook her head firmly, her eyes filling with tears as she continued to look at the Angel, but she barely even saw it now. The Time Lords looked at her heartbreakingly, their face's filled with sorrow as River kept watch over the Angel, "No, we can just go and get him in the TARDIS," she said firmly, her voice oddly soft, "One more paradox…"

"Amy, I am so sorry," the Hatter struggled to push back tears, letting go of the Doctor's hand to move towards her, "Truly, you have no idea…but to go back, it would destroy New York and every single person living within the city, every innocent life, every child…" she closed her eyes tightly, ducking her head, "We love you and Rory, you are family…but we can't do that".

"No, that's not true," she insisted at once, glaring tearfully at her, "I don't believe you".

"Mother, it's true," River told her quietly, struggling to hold back tears, her voice choked with unshed tears.

Amy didn't say anything for a long moment, simply staring at the Angel, the wind blowing her hair around her face. Slowly, she took a shuddering breath and began to walk forward towards the Angel.

"Amy," the Doctor frowned worriedly, watching her carefully, "What are you doing?"

"That gravestone," she sniffed, her eyes still fixed on the Angel, "Rory's…there's room for one more name, isn't there?"

"Amy…" the Hatter began sharply, growing alarmed.

"What are you talking about?" the Doctor demanded, his expression stricken, horrified that she seemed to be suggesting that she follow Rory, allow herself to be taken back in time by the Angel. He tried to grab her hand to pull her back towards the TARDIS, "Back away from the Angel…" but Amy shrugged his hand off her, walking nearer to the Angel as his eyes widened, "Come back to the TARDIS," he practically pleaded, "We'll figure something out".

"Amy, please," the Time Lady tried, trying to reach for her hand, but Amy avoided it easily, "Amy, don't do this," she almost sobbed, her voice cracking as the tears she had been fighting broke free, running down her cheeks, "Amy!"

"The Angel," Amy shook her head harshly, trying to shut out the desperation in their voices, the fear, "Would it send me back to the same time? To him?"

"That's impossible to know, Amy," she shook her head, "You might end up anywhere, any when! We can't say for certain".

"But it's my best shot, yeah?"

"No!" the Doctor cried, reaching towards her again, just as she took another step towards the Angel.

"Doctor, shut up!" River snapped at him, almost making him gap at her in disbelief, "Hatter, just stop getting so emotional and think about this!" the Time Lady's head snapped back around to her, but River was looking at Amy, "Yes, Mother, yes, it is!"

"Amy…" he began firmly, just wanting River to stop talking, stop encouraging this madness.

"Well, then," Amy breathed, nodding determinedly, not looking away from the Angel, "I just have to blink, right?"

"No!"

"Doctor…" the Hatter bit her lip painfully, almost making it bleed, but she was completely focused on Amy, hardly daring to even breathe. River had told her to stop being so emotional and to think, but that was much harder than one would expect when they were witnessing a person they loved and considered to be family facing such a situation as the one currently placed before Amy. Her logic was sound, if the same Angel had taken Rory then surely that meant they would end up in the same place, but there were still so many questions about it, so little known about all of this. But she also knew that Amy would never be happy without Rory beside her and sometimes, a risk had to be taken. If it was her and the Doctor, without question, she would take the risk to be with him.

"It's be fine," Amy shook her head very slightly, sounding more like she was convincing herself than anyone else, "I know it will. I'll be with him, like I should be…" her voice grew more and more chocked with tears, "Me and Rory together. Melody?"

"Stop it," the Doctor practically begged as River started to move toward her mother, looking frantically around at the Hatter and River, "Just…just stop it!"

The Hatter reached out to take his hand, while the other rubbed his back comfortingly, "Sweetheart, if this is what Amy wants…" she began softly, blinking back tears as she forced herself to say the words, even though she truly didn't wish to have to say it, "Then we can't be selfish. It's Amy's choice".

River reached Amy as the Doctor looked as though he might collapse into the Hatter's arms, barely holding it together. River took Amy's outstretched hand, Amy still staring at the Angel, unable to even look at her own daughter.

"You look after the three of them," she told River through tears, River pressing a kiss on her palm, "You be a good girl, and you look after them".

"You are creating fixed time," the Doctor turned back to Amy, pleading with her to change her mind, to think this through, "We will _never_ be able to see you again".

"I'll be fine," she laughed slightly through her tears, making the Hatter close her eyes tightly, "I'll be with him".

"Amy, please," he tried desperately, edging closer to her again, tears filling his eyes, "Just…come back to the TARDIS. Come along, Pond, please…"

"Hatter…" Amy sniffed, and the Hatter's eyes flew open, reaching out to lightly touch her shoulder, "Promise me…promise you will take care of him, that you'll make sure he doesn't blame himself, okay?"

The Hatter nodded quickly, swallowing hard, "I promise, Amy," she swore firmly, her voice thick with emotion. She squeezed her shoulder gently, "Just promise me you'll live the best possible human life you can, filled with laughter and love, that you'll remember the positives, even in the bleakest of time's and cherish even the heartbreaks, because those are the things that make life so special. Promise me, Amelia Williams…that you will _live_ ".

"I will, I promise," she cried softly, releasing a small sob, "Give Astra a kiss from me, would you?"

"I will, I'll make sure she never forgets you or Rory".

She nodded, taking a shuddering breath, "Raggedy man, shabby Hatter…" she spun around to face them, turning her back on the Angel, "Goodbye!"

And just like that, Amy vanished before their eyes, taken by the Angel as they barely had a chance to even blink. The Hatter chocked back a sob, wrapping her arm around the Doctor as they both turned towards the headstone, now with the added 'And His Loving Wife, Amelia Williams, Aged eighty seven'.

"No!" the Doctor gasped out in a terrible, gut wrenching sob. He collapsed onto the grass beside the grave, taking the Time Lady down with him as they huddled together, clinging to each other through their tears and heartbroken sobs.

Amy and Rory…were gone. And it hurt, oh, did it hurt.

….

Later the Hatter would wonder how River managed to convince them to go back to the TARDIS; it was all a blur of tears and sobs, clinging to the Doctor as he clutched her back just as tightly, as though afraid she might disappear just as Amy and Rory had. But slowly, the tears had stopped, unable to cry any more as they simply sat next to each other on the stairs of the console, Astra sleeping in the Doctor's arms, having practically screamed herself to sleep after the Hatter had forced herself to tell her what had happened to Amy and Rory, that they would never see them again. The baby had taken it almost as badly as her parents.

River was moving around the controls, preparing to set off into the Time Vortex, still dressed in her flowing 30's style dress as she let the Time Lords sit and grieve together. The Hatter watched her move, feeling guilt slowly start to wash over her, realising that while they had been so stricken by grief, River had been forced to keep her emotions in check, watching over the Angel in the graveyard while the Time Lords had wept on the grass, patiently leading them back to the time machine and letting them sit in silence while she focused on the controls. Out of any of them, she was the one who had the most right to be falling to pieces right now and yet, she was more controlled then any of them.

"River," the Hatter began quietly, her throat sore from crying and still slightly congested, as though she was recovering from a bad head cold. River looked up from the controls, meeting her eyes, "Are you okay? Amy and Rory…they were your parents, I'm so sorry…"

She turned back to the controls, focusing on fiddling with something on the monitor, "It doesn't matter," she replied dismissively, but the Time Lady could see that it did matter to her, far more then she was letting them see, no doubt to spare them any further guilt and pain.

"Of course it matters," the Doctor frowned at her, his voice soft.

"What matters is this…" she fixed them both with a steady, firm look, "Don't travel alone".

He glanced at the Hatter, who looked aged and tired, her eyes bloodshot and red from tears. He imagined he looked little better, but he forced a tired smile as he looked back over to River, "Travel with us, then," he offered, feeling like all those times he had asked the Hatter to do the same, knowing she wouldn't but hoping she would.

River gave them a small, soft smile as she looked between them, from the Doctor and his weak attempt at a smile, to the baby tucked into the crook of his arm, before lastly meeting the Hatter's red, watery eyes. It was tempting to stay with them forever, or whatever forever truly meant when it came to travelling with the Doctor and the Hatter, to be a part of their lives each and every day, to watch first hand their laughs and smiles, their family. But she knew they still had so much left to do, so much still within their future and as much as it pained her, she knew she didn't belong there, not this version of her, anyway. Of course, that didn't mean she couldn't indulge herself a little bit.

"Whenever and wherever you want," she told them, her smile softening as the Hatter struggled to return it, but her eyes didn't hold her usual spark. She forced herself to look away from them, turning her gaze back up to the monitor hang above her head, "But not all the time," she continued, forcing a cheerful tone into her voice, "One psychopath per TARDIS, don't you think?"

The Hatter gave her a slightly warning look, wondering exactly what she meant by those words, "River…"

River stopped and grasped the edge of the console, wincing slightly at her tone, "Okay," she said after a moment, taking a deep breath as she turned back towards them, "This book I've got to write. Melody Malone. I presume I send it to Amy to get it published?"

"Yes," the Doctor nodded, resisting against the urge to rub his face, not wishing to risk disturbing Astra when she was sleeping so peacefully, "Yes".

"I'll tell her to write an afterword," she remarked, moving around the controls, pausing to look back around the Time Rotor to them. They simply looked so utterly miserable, "For you two," she gave them a faint smile, "Maybe you'll listen to her," she disappeared back around the Time Rotor.

The Hatter blinked slowly, staring at the Rotor, when she suddenly gasped and her hand flew up to coverer her mouth, making the Doctor give her a worried look, "Oh, we are so slow!" she breathed, excitement filling her, meeting his eyes, "The last page, sweetheart! The last page!"

The Doctor looked completely blank for a moment, almost as though he was concerned that she had completely lost her mind in her grief, when his eyes widened, "The last page!" he gasped, struggling to stop himself from shouting, Astra snuggling into his chest.

The Time Lady leapt to her feet, "River, would you mind keeping an eye on Astra for us?" she asked her hurriedly, River looking around the Time Rotor to them, her eyebrows raised in surprised by their sudden burst of energy from the misery that had clouded them before. She looked to the Doctor, who also climbed onto his feet, her eyes sparkling with excitement, "We've got something we need to check".

….

The moment the TARDIS landed, the Doctor and the Hatter were running for the doors, throwing them open and dashing outside to where they had parked in the middle of Central Park. River watched them go, looking quite confused and mildly concerned as she held Astra in her arms, the baby still fast asleep, but they didn't have time to stop and explain what they were doing. They needed to get to the last page.

They grasped each other's hand as they ran through the park, dodging and waving between locals and groups of tourists as they went, sprinting over the bridge that they had stood on only a few hours before with Amy, the memory still so clear and fresh in their minds. Finally, they made it back to the large rock that they had been having the picnic on, finding the basket still sitting open in the middle of the rock, just as they had left it, the Doctor plucking the slip of paper sitting on top of the baskets contents between his fingers as he held it between them, reading the text written at the top of the page:

 _Afterword, by Amelia Williams_

This was it, the last page, their last chance to hear from Amy and Rory again.

The Hatter broke into a wide, delighted smile that made her cheeks hurt, "Let's sit down and read it," she said, knowing perfectly well that soon enough, they would likely be an emotional mess again; they might as well be comfortable.

The Doctor nodded, giving her a gentle smile and pressing a quick kiss to her cheek, before linking his arm with hers as they moved to take a seat on a wooden bench a short distance away. They sat close together as he put the page between them, just as he remembered that he still had Amy's glasses in his pocket, pulling them out and hesitating, feeling the emotions chock him, before slipping them up the bridge of his nose.

"I forgot to give them back to her," he almost whispered, the world suddenly becoming so much more focused with them on.

"I'm sure she would have wanted you to keep them," she said gently, covering his knee with her hand, "Would you prefer me to read it, Doctor?" she nodded to the page, but she was watching his expression closely.

"No," he shook his head at once, surprised slightly by how much he actually wanted to be the one to read the page, it felt important, somehow, that he be the one to pass on Amy's last goodbye to them. He met her eyes and the Hatter gave him a knowing, comforting smile, making his hearts instantly lift and the tightens in his chest lesson slightly, knowing he had her beside him, supporting him, as always.

"Very well, sweetheart, but if it becomes too much, I'm right here. I'm always here".

He could have kissed her for just saying those words, even if he truly didn't need to hear her say it to know, to feel that. He turned his gaze back onto the page and took a deep breath before starting to read aloud, "'Hello, old friends,'" he began, "'And here we are, you and me, on the last page. By the time you read these words, Rory and I will be long gone. So know that I kept my promise, Hatter, and made sure that we lived well, and were very happy. And above all else, know that…'" he paused, struggling to hold back the prickle of tears, but the Hatter's warm hand on his knee helped steady him to keep going, "'…we will love you always. Sometimes I do worry about you, though. I think once we're gone, you won't be coming back here for a while, and you might be alone, which you should _never_ be. I know that you have each other and Astra, but you need someone else to be there beside you, to remind you to stop and look at the Universe, to live life, just like you taught us…'"

The Hatter struggled to hold back a sob that threatened to escape her throat, feelings her eyes stinging with tears again as her hearts broke all over again. Even after all those years, Amy still remembered her words and was even using them to try and help them, which was just so very human and like her. She was right, of course, as Amy often was about these things, they did need someone sometimes to make them stop and see the beauty of it all, but not yet, not right now. They needed to grieve first.

The Doctor wrapped his arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer to him as he returned his attention onto the page, "'…And do one more thing for me,'" he went on, his voice sounding thicker, "'There's a little girl waiting in a garden. She's going to wait a long while, so she's going to need a lot of hope. Go to her. Tell her a story. Tell her that if she's patient, the days are coming that she'll never forget. Tell her she'll go to sea and fight pirates…'" the Hatter couldn't help laughing fondly at that, "'She'll fall in love with a man who'll wait two thousand years to keep her safe. Tell her she'll give hope to the greatest painter who ever lived and save a whale in outer space. Tell her this is the story of Amelia Pond. And this is how it ends'".

The Doctor and the Hatter looked at each other, tears filling their eyes but smiles quickly tugged at their lips. Neither one spoke, knowing what they needed to do as they jumped up from the park bench and run back to the TARDIS. They had a very important house call to make to a little girl and they couldn't be late, not again, not when they had so many fairytales to tell her.

 _ **Goodbye, Ponds. I am going to miss you so much, I loved writing you and having to chance to tell you story alongside the Hatter. You have certainly played such a special role in their lives and you will be dearly missed. Don't mind me; I'm just trying hard not to get emotional right now.**_

 _ **Onto a happier note, I have officially began writing 'The Three Doctors and Hatters!' yes, the Classic Who episode that I said I would write over a year, maybe even two years ago and I've finally finished writing the first chapter. I'm expecting it to be about six chapters long, but that's a rough estimate at this point, but it is in the works, people! I'm so excited; the first chapter has given me a chance to write several references to Sherlock Holmes and Harry Potter. Let me know what you thought, I really hope you guys liked this chapter, I tried hard to make it not completely sad. Tell me what you thought :)**_

 _ **Guest reviews (Twenty three reviews for one chapter?! Wow, you guys are seriously the best, thank you do much):**_

 _ **Sam Fraser (1):**_ _ **Yes, I very much enjoyed Bradley's portrayal of the First Doctor, it was just such a disappointment that he was given such rubbish writing, but that's not his fault. Thank you for the recommendation, I really, seriously do need to get into Big Finish. Maybe one day.**_

 _ **Guest (1):**_ _ **I firmly believe that reviewers are allowed to write whatever they so wish to write when they review, I personally feel honoured when someone takes the time to write a message to me or on one of my stories when they don't have to, regardless of if they might have written the same message before. I myself typically write the same or very similar review on stories, so please don't attack others. This is Fanfiction, for many people this is a space of escape from reality, let's not fight or attack others, thank you.**_

 _ **Guest (2):**_ _ **That's very interesting; I didn't even know that there was a book version out already for the Christmas special. I can sort of see why the First Doctor would view Twelve as a parody of himself, but still…that doesn't really explain, even if it was just to annoy Twelve, why he would be acting so sexist. There's plenty of ways One might have annoyed his future self, I don't believe he would have resorted to sexisms in order to do so. It just doesn't make sense to me.**_

 _ **Guest (3):**_ _ **Actually, yes, I do find it very odd and it hit me how strange it was that the Doctor deleted himself from the Universe, and yet later on it's very apparent that the Universe still remembers him, plus, like you said, it's never mentioned again after the Doctor regenerates into Twelve. I was only thinking about it recently, when I was writing the Asylum of the Daleks and it hit me how that plot seemed to just disappear later on.**_

 _ **I don't know what happened, I guess the only logical way I can explain it is word-of-mouth. I mean, the Doctor might have been able to delete himself from every database, but he can't delete himself from people's memories, from the stories passed down each generation, from the legions and myths about him. Plus, he didn't exactly change his behaviour, did he? He didn't stop going on adventures and shouting his name about, so it's not hard to believe that people would still remember him, I just feel like it made things harder for his enemies to find him then it had previously. I do like your suggestion about Missy being behind it, though; I wouldn't be surprised if she possibly had a hand in it. Thanks for the suggestion; I'll keep it in mind for season eight :)**_

 _ **Sam Fraser (2):**_ _ **I replied to this on my Tumblr, so I'll just copy and paste what I said here:**_

 **Really? I didn't know he didn't like the First Doctor's era, though I myself do find it rather difficult to watch given how slow sometimes the story line can feel and just simply not being used to watching black and white.**

 **But that was one of the reasons for why they had the companions have so much screen time, by the end of the First Doctor's era, Hartnell was too ill to do much and his performance was being affected by it, naturally the companions would end up needing to take more screen time as a result and, besides, the companions are the people who the audience is supposed to connect with the most, they are our mouthpiece within the story that we can't get through the Doctor, it's always been that way and still is to this day. Personally, I feel like Moffat ought to be looking at his own story lines, after all, Amy/Rory and Clara stole a huge amount of screen time off the Doctor, if you truly wish to look at it that way, more so then Barbara or Ian ever did during their day and age.**

 _ **Sam Fraser (3):**_

 _ **Guest (4):**_ _ **Well, I do love to read, so I'll certainly keep that in mind, plus the books always have way more detail about what happened then TV/movies ever show. I'll have to see if I can find a copy of it online to read, but I might wait until I get closer to writing the episode before that. Thanks for the suggestion :)**_

 _ **Guest (5):**_ _ **I can't say I've ever seen the movie 'Saving Private Ryan,' but I'm not surprised to learn that it was mostly fiction. It always annoys me when they do that in historical movies/books/TV shows, I mean, I get why they do it and why they make certain events more dramatic, but still. I am a bit of historical nerd, if I do say so very proudly, and it always bothers me when people mess with history like that.**_

 _ **Guest (6):**_ _ **Yes, I have actually considered writing another Doctor Who OC, only a few weeks ago I was actually just about to fall asleep when she popped into my head, much to my annoyance because I then couldn't go to sleep for an hour thinking about it. I almost feel as though I'm cheating on the Hatter even considering another OC Time Lady, but I honestly don't know if I ever would actually write her. I mean, I actually really like her, she's quite different from the Hatter and her relationship with the Doctor would be quite different as well, not nearly as easy as the Hatter's had been, been I don't know if she'll ever be written. My biggest concern would be growing bored, I haven't gone back and even watched the past episodes that I've written since I finished writing the chapters, so I don't know how I would go writing another Time Lady into the episodes.**_

 _ **Guest (7):**_ _ **Well, I think that if the Doctor and the Hatter first meet during the Time War, the Time Lady, for starters, would be a very different person to who we know. I don't think she would have ever left Gallifrey, she probably would have remained married but merely separated from her husband, and she certainly would have been much closer to her children. I think she would have been quite a stern and rather rule abiding person, very much like the Time Lords we know that the Hatter hates. I don't know if they would have got along, I feel like the Doctor would be impressed by her but dismissive of her insistence on being such a boring Time Lady, while she would view him as being just another trouble maker who never grew up. Does that mean they would have remained that way throughout the War? I like to think they would have warmed to each other, but I can't say for certain.**_

 _ **Guest (8):**_ _ **I'm so glad you like the previous chapter and thank you so much for the suggestion, and I will say this, if the Hatter doesn't have a War version of her, I do intend to write a one-shot version of what might have happened if she did have a War version of her as a small AU. I can't say if she does or does not, of course, but no matter what happens, I do plan to write that one-shot, or a scene of her in the Fiftieth if she does, in fact, have a War version.**_

 _ **Guest (9):**_ _ **Yes, I have considered rewriting parts of the previous series, I'm still not happy with the first two chapters of the series, I much prefer the one-shot version that I wrote, but from Emma/the Hatter's perspective, rather than the Tenth Doctor. Perhaps I will go back and change that, I'd also love to get rid of any mention of the Gifted One, looking back on that now I just want to cringe at my fourteen year self for coming up with that.**_

 _ **Guest (10):**_ _ **No, I haven't read that book, but it certainly sounds very interesting from how you described it. I'll see if I can find it online right now, thank you for the suggestion :)**_

 _ **Guest (11):**_ _ **Terribly boring and dull. She would have been miserable, a mere shadow of the woman we know, stripped of everything that makes her the Hatter. She would have become just like the rest of the Time Lords, without the Doctor there to influence her to fight back and be herself.**_

 _ **Guest (12):**_ _ **Yes, I do feel so sad about saying goodbye to them, I feel like they played such a massive part of the Doctor and the Hatter's life for so long, I mean, they were there when they were having Astra, they helped bring her into the Universe, and now they're gone. I think I'll miss writing the different relationship that they all had with each other, I always felt like the Hatter was closer to Rory at times and the Doctor to Amy, while Amy and Rory kind of acted like the Doctor's parent's at times and the Hatter did the same to Amy and Rory, she is very maternal. I'm just going to miss them so much; I actually became a bit chocked writing their final scene together, which never happens when I'm writing.**_

 _ **Guest (13):**_ _ **The Hatter's greatest failure, in her mind, is tied between not being able to protect her children during the Time War and not going with the Doctor when he asked her to when she gave him the moment. I personally feel like, in regards to relationships and her own personality, that was likely her biggest failure, I'd also say building the Moment is up there, too. I feel like she made most of her biggest mistakes during the Time War, but if I was going to pick one from before the Time War, I would say it would be failing to leave Skaro when she landed there and April Jones died as a result. And as for currently, failing to save Melody and Amy from the Silence.**_

 _ **Guest (14):**_ _ **If the Hatter had landed on Skaro during Genesis of the Daleks after she had run away from Gallifrey I think she would have been terrified and quite appalled to find herself in such a place, while the Doctor is given such an impossible and horrible mission to commit genocide. I think she would have been against it from the start, without question or doubt because, unlike when the future Hatter was there during that adventure after having experienced just how awful the Daleks are, that version of the Hatter would never have encountered them before and so, her intentions would have been completely without previous history or experience with the Daleks.**_

 _ **Guest (15):**_ _ **If the Hatter's mother had been with her when they first meet the Doctor, then the Hatter likely would never have become his friend. Her mother would have made sure of that, she likely would have filled her head with horrible things about the Doctor's family and, sadly, young Hatter was rather easy to influence.**_

 _ **Guest (16):**_ _ **The Hatter's mother always felt like the Doctor was below their family, because of the family he came from and the history between the Hatter's father and the Doctor's parents, she hated the idea of the Hatter having anything to do with him and the feeling only grew worse the longer time went on and after the Hatter ran away. As for what she thought of him after the Time War…spoilers! :)**_

 _ **Guest (17):**_ _ **This wasn't really a review o me, so I'll just play massager:**_

 **Sam, you raise a lot of interesting points I agree with. I think the allegations against Hartnell are rather exaggerated. :)**

 _ **Guest (18):**_ _ **If the Hatter had never been the Gifted One, then I think she probably would have been pushed aside a lot in preference to her older sister, who in comparison was more like the daughter her mother had wanted, rather then what happened. Her parents already had two children who were much older than her when she came along, she was an accident. Having said that, I do believe she would have had friends before going to school, her cousins wouldn't have hated her and she probably wouldn't have been alone at school, meaning that her path probably wouldn't have crossed with the Doctor's, though I kind of feel like he would have admired her from afar.**_


	12. Chapter 12 The Snowmen, Part 1

_**The Snowmen, Part 1**_

The snow had almost completely blanketed the city of London, Christmas just on the horizon, mere days away as a chill filled the air and, more often than not, every morning another several inches of fresh snow could be found to cover the paths and roads of the city, many children overjoyed in the wintery experience as squeals of delight and excitement could often be heard through the streets. It truly did look like something you might find depicted on one of those old Victorian style Christmas cards that had become so popular during Queen Victoria's reign. Of course, that was no doubt largely due to the fact that the year was 1892.

The Hatter's black boots sunk into the snow as she walked alongside the Doctor, one arm linked through his, making them appear to anyone who might look out of their frosted windows as though they were merely a upper class couple going for a late evening stroll with a black baby carriage being pushed along ahead of them by the Doctor. Of course, that wasn't exactly the case, the Time Lady would hardly call the stroll overly romantic, given the rather grim, annoyed look on her husband's face, nor could she say that she found it to be overly enjoyable having to walk around with her waist tightly enclosed in the nightmare of a corset she was forced to endure in this time period, let alone the trip hazard of a dress she was currently wearing. She truly must love the Doctor, if she was willing to put up with all this nonsense.

She had to admit, she could think of a lot worse dresses to wear, and she likely had worn a number of questionable one's during her time. She did rather like the dark blue fabric and the black velvet trim was hard to resist touching whenever her fingers brushed over the trimming down the front of her bodice or the draped pleating of her many skirts, but she couldn't help finding the large bustle annoying, she couldn't even sit back comfortably in a chair for the structured, metal garment presently strapped around her waist in order to hold the back of her skirts up in a so called 'fashionable' manner. She had thought squeezing her waist with metal and fabric an annoying fashion statement, but now she couldn't even sit comfortably and it was truly getting on her nerves.

One might have thought she would grow used to it after eight months of enduring such uncomfortable fashion treads whenever she left the TARDIS, but she hadn't, if anything her patients was only growing thinner with each month that passed. She was trying hard to remain patient, she truly was, but it wasn't just the style of dress that was getting to her, she missed travelling and going on mad adventures, she missed being clever and helpful to those in need, she missed the excitement of throwing the TARDIS doors open without any idea of what might happen next, good or bad, it was always an experience that she looked forward to. But for the past eight months none of that had happened, instead she and the Doctor had practically retired from travelling the Universe, from getting into positively insane situations and, instead, had settled into watching the very human and Victorian world pass them by below them from their cloud. Literally.

They had both agreed to the idea at first, the grief and guilt over what happened to Amy and Rory had simply been too much for either of them to bear, and so it had come naturally to them both to stop for a while. The Hatter had thought it would be good for them both, take the time away from the Universe and helping others to instead focus on grieving for their lost friends, but the Doctor…he had taken it hardest of all. Since Amy and Rory, he had lost so much of his cheer, his lightness had almost completely vanished, save for when he was with the Hatter and Astra, his mood more often than not dark and grim, causing the Hatter to worry all the more for him as she watched as his attitude remained the same month after month. Escaping from the pressures of the Universe hadn't seemed to help him, if anything; he seemed to have gotten stuck in his own grief, completely closed off to the idea of possibly travelling again, of starting again with another companion.

The Hatter had attempted to suggest to him that perhaps it was time to return to the Universe, to helping others like before, hoping it might be exactly what he needed to get back some of that spark that he had lost after losing Amy and Rory so suddenly, but he had insisted that that was all over now, in the past. She didn't believe that to be true, not one bit, not when she knew that he was simply still grieving, but she had also been forced to drop the matter for the time being. She didn't wish to push the matter so much that they ended up fighting over it, not just yet, anyway, she was rather hoping he might come to his own realisation soon enough that what they were doing, hiding away on a cloud as they were, wasn't exactly a healthy coping mechanism, nor was it something that the Hatter wished to teach Astra to do, but she would give it a bit more time yet before truly pushing the subject further, or rather pushing _him_ further. He was still in so much pain over Amy and Rory, eight months for a Time Lord was nothing, really, and so the Hatter made sure that he knew that she wasn't overly pleased with their current situation, but that she wasn't about to start challenging it. Not quite yet.

The Time Lady wasn't the only one who was starting to grow frustrated; however, their friends, Vastra, her wife Jenny, and the Sontaran and companion to their little gang, Strax, were also starting to grow rather impatient with the Doctor's lack of desire to get involved with investigating matters of the Universe. In fact, the very reason they had left their cloud this very evening was because of them, though the Doctor had been greatly reluctant at first to leave the TARDIS while he and the Hatter had been enjoying a nice little picnic in the garden with Astra, the Hatter had managed to convince him that they ought to at least hear what Vastra wished to speak to them about, since the message had said it was urgent. And so the Doctor, unable to deny her anything when she gave him that little smile of hers that made his knees feel weak, had agreed.

They'd quickly changed into something a bit more period appropriate and left the TARDIS, Astra snuggled up in a thick, woollen green and red tartan dress with a white apron over the top of it, as the style was for the era, her rather worn for wear teddy, Cyril, grasped tightly in his fist as she recited all of the names of the stars she could see through strangely clear sky above them. It had made the Doctor's eyes light up listening to his daughter singing the stars names, already too clever for her own good. Her speech really was coming on very nicely and the Hatter was deeply relieved that she hadn't been traumatised after losing Amy and Rory, though she still got sad sometimes and she'd had her first nightmare shortly after losing them, which had involved a Weeping Angel snatching her parents away, but Astra had proven to be far stronger.

The Time Lords had soon caught up with Vastra and her little gang, but that's when everything had gone downhill, the Doctor's annoyance returning full force as they had listened to them attempting to get them to help with some frankly absurd and obviously made up cases that supposedly involved alien activity. The Hatter had simply sighed and in the end, had been forced to politely but firmly inform Vastra and her gang that they weren't interested, thinking it better to play along rather then call them out, before firmly taking the Doctor's arm and starting to lead them away from the gang, feeling their disappointed eyes watching them go.

And that was how they had come to be found walking through an alleyway, Astra oddly quiet, no doubt sensing her father's annoyance and her mother's resignation over everything, the Time Lady casting the Doctor a quick glance beside her as they continued onwards, wishing Vastra and her gang hadn't tried interfering again, when it only ended up causing the Doctor to instantly close down. She lightly tightened her grip on his arm, leaning closer into his side as his footsteps faltered slightly, looking at her beneath the brim of her small, navy blue hat with a matching navy velvet ribbon running around it, little white flowers stitched into the fabric, her hair arranged neatly beneath in a Victorian style bun.

The Doctor heaved a grim sigh, turning his attention back ahead of them, "Did you know what they were planning?" he asked her, his tone flat.

"No, of course not," the Hatter shook her head, completely honest, though she probably ought to have suspected it. She gave him a wary smile, "They're only trying to help, sweetheart".

"Yeah, well…" he muttered darkly, "I wish they would stop".

Instantly, her smile vanished and she gave him a deep frown, feeling almost helpless. She just didn't know what to do, she knew he was still grieving and she was too, but while she had found comfort in the thought of Amy and Rory being together, the Doctor only seemed to be able to focus on the fact that they would never see them again. She had tried talking to him, tried comforting him, tried distracting him, but nothing she did seemed to have much lasting effect upon him. The only time he seemed like his old self was when it was just the three of them, in the TARDIS, away from everyone and everything, but that wasn't a life and it certainly wasn't the life she wanted for Astra. She would have to do something, take matters into her own hands, but she feared how he might react in his current mood. She didn't wish for them to fight or force him to do anything he wasn't yet ready for, but she knew this couldn't go on for much longer. Something was going to have to give.

They continued on down the snow covered alleyway, the Harry barely sparing a young, dark haired woman in a rather simple, red dress much mind as they passed her, the woman's attention seemingly fixed on a large snowman that had been built on the other side of the alleyway. That did catch the Time Lady's attention, casting the snowman a brief look as they began to walk by it, eyeing its rather sinister looking, toothy grin and large, black eyes. The snowman was easily the same height as herself, only a tiny bit shorter than the Doctor without his top hat that he'd taken to wearing lately.

"Did you make this snowman?" the woman asked them suddenly, looking over to their retreating backs.

"No," the Doctor replied without so much as glancing back over his shoulder, just wishing to get back to the TARDIS were he and the Hatter could have some hot chocolate, maybe they should even consider teaching Astra some Christmas carols, get into the sprite of it, since Astra was at an age where she could finally get involved. Maybe they could even decorate a tree, or something, that sounded quite fun, actually…

The Hatter gave him a quick look, noting the sharpness in his tone, "Sorry," she called back over her shoulder, not taking her eyes off the Doctor's face, "Wasn't us".

"Well, who did?" the woman wondered aloud, sounding slightly puzzled. The Hatter frowned slightly to herself, her voice…where had she heard it before? The accent didn't fit, it was rougher, but there was still something familiar about it…, "Because it wasn't there a second ago," she went on, and the Time Lady slowed her pace to a stop, forcing the Doctor to stop too, "It just appeared, from nowhere".

The Doctor slowly looked at the Hatter, seeing her eyes start to glimmer, excitement clear to see spreading across her face as she meet his eyes. Oh, he hadn't seen that look on her face in months, the look she got when something new and different happened on an adventure, he'd forgotten how much he adored seeing that look on her face, how it made her eyes look even brighter and more beautiful, which was quite an accomplishment as it was, in his mind. He had to admit…the young woman's words had sparked something in him that he hadn't felt for some time, and seeing the Hatter looking at him like that, the excitement on her face…oh, who was he kidding? A little bit of investigating, for old time's sake, wasn't going to hurt anything.

The Time Lords slowly turned back around, the Doctor carefully wheeling Astra's baby carriage around as they began to walk closer towards the woman, their eyes fixing on the snowman as the Doctor absently reached into his pocket one handed, pulling Amy's old glasses out of his pocket to slip onto his nose. They examined it closely as they reached the snowman, the Doctor letting go of the baby carriage to start circling the snowman.

"Don't like!" Astra complained loudly, grabbing the edge of her woollen, pink blanket, giving the snowman a frightened glare, "Don't like, Mummy!"

"Don't worry, my darling," the Hatter leaned over the handle of the baby carriage, lightly stroking Astra's cheek, turning her head away from the mean looking snowman, "Mummy and Daddy are here, and we scare away all the monsters," she gave her a little wink, making Astra giggle and nod firmly. She straightened and turned her attention back onto the snowman, "See anything interesting, sweetheart?"

"Hmm…" the Doctor eyed the snowman carefully, reaching out to lightly take a pinch of snow from off the snowman's upper body, "Maybe it's snow that fell before," he remarked, looking back over to the Hatter, who looked thoughtful at his suggestion, "Maybe it remembers how to make snowmen".

The young woman shifted on the spot, putting her hands on his hips, a red shawl draped over her arms behind her, "What, snow that can remember?" she began to smile, looking amused, "That's silly".

"Silly, Daddy!" Astra cheered, clapping her hands.

The Hatter struggled to hold back a laugh as the Doctor pretended to look offended by Astra, shaking her head as she looked at the young woman, only to do a double take. She hadn't properly looked at her until now, focused on Astra and the snowman, but looking at the young girl before her, she couldn't help taking in her features, large brown eyes and an upturned nose, her brown hair half piled on top of her head while the rest hung loosely down her shoulders. She was clearly not from a middle or upper class background, in fact the Time Lady suspected she was probably a worker in the pub that backed into the alleyway that they were standing in, but her face…she knew that face, she could never forget it. It would forever be burned into her mind, just as the faces of her children and the Doctor's past regenerations would always be. But… _how_? It wasn't possible, it was completely and totally impossible, and yet…here she was.

"What's wrong with silly?" the Doctor turned towards the woman, raising an eyebrow. He cast the Hatter a quick look, only to frown as he found her staring at the woman in stunned disbelief, her lips parted and her eyes wide, "Hatter…"

"Nothing," the woman cut across him, crossing her arms across her chest, looking at him with a slight, cheeky smirk, "Still talking to you lot, ain't I?"

The Hatter swallowed, hard, trying to clear her head, "Sorry…" she cleared her throat, blinking rapidly as she gave her head a sharp shake. Her eyes caught the Doctor's and she noticed his worried frown, but she simply shook her head again and turned back to the young woman, trying to give her a friendly smile that wouldn't look to strained, "Do you have a name?"

She gave the Time Lady a slightly odd look, apparently noticing her strange reaction, "Clara".

"Clara…" she nodded slowly, frowning briefly, eyeing her face a little too intently for Clara's comfort, making her shift beneath her gaze, "Lovely name, Clara…"

"Hatter," the Doctor stepped back over to stand beside her, placing a hand on her lower back, watching her closely in concern, "Are you okay?"

"Hmm, what?" she blinked, pulling her eyes off Clara, who looked like she was getting a little nervous. She looked at the Doctor and gave him a quick smile, "Oh, yes, of course I am. Perfectly fine, me," she suddenly flashed Clara a grin, winking, "I do apologise, Clara. You reminded me of someone I knew a very, very long time ago. I must have got lost in my own head; it's quite a frequent occurrence".

"Right…" Clara said slowly, giving her a funny look.

The Doctor eyed the Time Lady still, not completely reassured, "Perhaps we ought to be getting on, dear?" he suggested, wanting to get back to the TARDIS and find out exactly what had gotten into her, why she was acting so very…strange, even for the Hatter.

"Yes, good idea, sweetheart," she nodded, suddenly looking very bright and cheerful, but the Doctor knew her well enough to know that it was a mask. She gave Clara a quick smile, reaching to grab the handle of Astra's baby carriage, Astra was even looking at her mother in confusion, "Goodbye, Clara. Lovely to meet you again. Bye!"

The Doctor quickly slipped his glasses off and put them back into his pocket, hurrying to catch up with the Hatter as she began to move at a rather fast pace up the alleyway, away from Clara, ignoring the way that the snow covering the cobbled stone beneath their feet made it rather slippery. They turned a corner up ahead, still walking, just as they heard footsteps following behind them.

"Oi!" Clara called after them, rounding the corner, "Where are you going? I thought we was just getting acquitted".

The Time Lords paused, a sense of sadness washing over them both as they looked at one another. The Hatter sighed and took his hand, squeezing it as she caught sight of the pain in his eyes, knowing his thoughts, just like hers, had gone back to Amy and Rory. Oh, she missed them so much, she missed how easy it had been with them, their laughter and adventures, she missed their company. She just missed… _them_. Her hearts broke thinking of them, but she also felt a sense of relief because at least they had been together and lived their life, they'd even gone on to adopt a baby boy. Life hadn't ended for them, just their travels through space and time.

The Doctor swallowed painfully, turning slightly back towards Clara, standing by the corner behind them, her hands on her hips with a cheeky glint in her eyes. It reminded him of the Hatter, or really most of his companions, had he subconsciously been picking his female companions based upon the Hatter? He wouldn't be surprised if he had, "Those were the days," he murmured with a grim smile.

He squeezed the Hatter's hand, still clasped in his before they turned to continue off down the alleyway, still feeling Clara's eyes on their backs, but she didn't seem to be following them again. They reached the end of the alley, just in time for a familiar black carriage coach to pull up alongside the footpath, Strax holding the horse's reigns. The Time Lords came to a stop and sighed heavily, exchanging a quick look. Of course Vastra wasn't done with them yet, but at least they'd get a lift out of it.

"Does Master Astra need assistance?" Strax asked, peering down at them from his perch at the front of the coach.

"It's _Miss_ Astra, Strax," the Hatter told him, for what felt like the four hundredth time this week, before pausing in consideration, "Well, actually, it's technically Lady Astra of the House of Lungbarrow, but that's such a mouthful…"

"We've got it, Strax," the Doctor said with an annoyed glare in Strax's direction, not at all pleased by his appearance. He forced his expression into a happier one, which wasn't hard when he looked at Astra, already holding her arms up to be lifted out of her baby carriage, a tartan bow pinned in her hair, which was long enough to be a bob now. He was quite surprised she hadn't insisted upon walking tonight, ever since she had started walking properly it had been near impossible to get her to agree to sit in the baby carriage, he suspected the Hatter must have bribed her with an extra story before bed.

Once Astra was out of the baby carriage and held happily in the Doctor's arms, the Hatter hit a small button on the side of the handle, instantly making the whole baby carriage shrink down into smaller version of the carriage, small enough to be tucked away inside the Time Lady's dress pocket. It had taken her three days to design the whole thing, giving it different safety features and making it so it was easy to carry, but she was rather proud of her own work. They swiftly climbed into the cabin of the coach, the three of them squeezing onto the one bench, Astra insisting on sitting in the middle as her boot clad feet barely even passed the edge of the seat, clapping happily as the coach began trotting off down the street upon the Doctor's light knock on the roof.

"How refreshing to see you taking an interest again," Vastra's voice sounded through the dimly lit cabin, coming from a small device positioned on the roof, looking like a small ear horn. Instantly, the Doctor's expression grew sullen and annoyed, "Was she nice?"

"We just spoke to her," the Doctor sighed, casting the horn a quick glare. Why couldn't they just leave him and the Hatter be? Why could they simply not understand that they had retired, that they… _he_ had no desire to investigate anything…tonight didn't count, of course, he had only been doing it because he couldn't resist seeing how excited the Hatter got when something odd and new was there to be examined. But for the most part it was behind them now, he only wanted to be with the Hatter and Astra, devote all of his time and energy to them, let the Universe take care of its self for a change. He had a family that needed him, the family he had always wanted at last, though he hadn't forgotten about his previous children and grandchildren, but now he actually had the chance to be a real father and husband, and he was going to enjoy every second of it.

"Of course…" the Hatter added, giving him a little smirk, absently toying with a strained of Astra's hair as the little girl leaned into her side, "More often than not, that's all it takes".

"Quite," Vastra agreed with a hint of amusement in her tone, while the Doctor threw the Time Lady a betrayed look, "No doubt you have both made your usual impact".

The Doctor gave the Time Lady a pointed look, which she merely returned with a smug smile. If it wasn't for Astra sitting between them, he would have quite liked to have wiped that smug smile off her face. In this dim lighting and dressed in that dress, he found her near impossible to resist. There was a reason he had picked the Victorian era, after all, and as much as he knew the Hatter despised the clothing, he certainly didn't mind certain aspects of them…not that he would ever tell the Hatter if he ever wished to sleep in the same bed as her for the next fifty years.

"No, no," he said firmly, "No impact at all. Those days are over".

The Hatter scoffed and gave him a look. Honestly, this was a man who couldn't even sit through watching a three minute video on funny cats that Rory tried to show them once, she didn't believe for a second that he could ever truly give up travelling the Universe, picking up friends along the way to go on their mad adventures together. He would never truly give it up, but taking a break was a different story and that was exactly what this was. Once the pain and grief had passed he would be ready to start anew, she knew he would, and so she would try to remain patient and let him reach that point without interfering out of her own frustration. He knew how she felt, she hadn't tried to hide the fact that she missed travelling and adventures, but she had tried to do so in a manner that didn't make him any guiltier then he already was. Time would help him, it always did, and until then they would simply be patient.

However, after recent develops she feared that she might find it harder than ever to remain completely patient, she couldn't get Clara's face out of her head, her thoughts going back to her. She was a brand new mystery and once more, a rather personal one for herself. She was perfectly content to go about figuring it out on her own without the Doctor's aid, should it come to it, she was certainly more than capable of it and it had been so long since she'd had her own little adventure, but that didn't mean that she did _want_ to do it on her own. She wanted to share it with the Doctor, like always, but if he wasn't ready for it…she couldn't push.

"You can't help yourself," Vastra went on as though the Doctor hadn't spoken, "It's the same story every time. And it always begins with the same four words".

"Mummy and Daddy!" Astra clapped, knowing exactly what those four words were and getting excited over it, looking eagerly up into her mother's face, who smiled gently down at her and gently tucked her hair behind her ear.

"That's right, Astra," the Hatter smiled, pressing a kiss on top of her head, "What a clever girl you are".

The Doctor's expression softened, glancing over to watch the Hatter and Astra, feeling his hearts warming at the sight, before he sighed and shook his head, "She'll never be able to find us again," he looked back up to the horn, frowning at it, "She doesn't even have our names. Doctor and the Hatter," he rolled his eyes, turning his gaze onto the window beside him, "What four words?"

The Hatter flashed him a cheeky smile, her eyes twinkling, warning him of an impending teasing remark, but she sadly never did get the chance to say it, because at that very moment something banged on the roof above them. Instantly, the three of them blinked and looked up in confusion.

"Doctor?" Clara's voice sounded through the roof, "Hatter?" suddenly, a hatch above their heads swung open and her head popped down, hanging upside down before them with a grin, "Doctor who? Hatter who?"

The Hatter's mouth fell open in shock, staring at her with wide eyes, "Blimey…" she murmured, to soft for even the Doctor to hear, "We're definitely related".

….

It wasn't often that the Hatter found herself at quite a loss to even begin to understand how something worked, but right now, with Clara, she found herself completely baffled. It simply wasn't possible, but yet Clara looked exactly like her, from her big brown eyes to her small, upturned nose, she would even be around the same height and build, if her memory was correct and she knew without a doubt it was. She never forgot a face and especially not one who had meant so much to her, but _how_? She could feel her brain struggling to find a logical explanation because there surely had to be one, but yet with each new idea that popped into her head, she just as quickly dismissed them. It was beyond frustrating and she could tell that the Doctor was starting to pick up on her shift in mood, his eyes flickering over to her every few seconds, concern written across his features.

She sighed heavily to herself and pushed aside her thoughts and the memories that came with them, needing to do something to help, rather than simply stand by holding Astra's hand. She tried to ignore the sound of Clara attempting to kick the door of the coach down, currently locked inside it where the Time Lords had made Strax park the coach in an alleyway, just around the corner from a Doctor Simeon's Institution, the man apparently a suspect of Vastra and Jenny's investigation. Funny, how they had failed to mention the only actually case that had proven to hold any interest to the Doctor, the Hatter felt rather tempted to give Vastra a good scolding next time she saw her. While Strax was busy watching the Intuitions high, bared gates in the mouth of the alleyway with a pair of binoculars, the Doctor was kneeling on the ground of the alleyway, examining the snow, watching as it fell through his fingers.

The Hatter came to kneel beside him, still holding Astra's gloved hand firmly in her own, less the little girl decided to go running off, again. The Time Lady reached out to grab a handful of the snow, bringing it up to her eyes, frowning at it, "This isn't right," she said softly, inwardly grimacing as Clara shouts continued from within the coach, "This is very…odd".

"Seems to be a lot of that going around," the Doctor whispered, suddenly fixing her with an intent, searching look, "Ever since we ran into that Clara girl, you've been acting… _funny_ ".

"Well, sweetheart…" she gave him her best grin, winking, "I'm a _very_ funny person…."

"Don't try and lie to me, dear," he narrowed his eyes, pointing a finger at her, instantly vanishing her smile, "I know you to well for that to work, remember?"

She sighed grimly, ducking her head very slightly, "Worth a shot," she muttered, before looking back up to his face, "To be honest, I'm still rather confused myself, but give me time and I'll figure it out".

"Figure what out?"

Her expression grew sterner, "Later," she said sharply, her eyes flickering briefly over to Astra and back to him. She didn't wish to have this conversation in front of Astra, it was confusing enough for her, let alone her eighteen month old daughter to try and understand, but thankfully the Doctor accepted that at once and nodded, giving her a quick smile before they both turned their attention back onto the snow.

"Mummy…" Astra tugged on the Hatter's hand, making her sigh slightly, looking back up to her, "Play in snow!" she began jumping on the spot, tugging on her mother's arm again, clearly wanting to drag her off to play, "Play in snow! Play in snow….!"

"Not right now, my little star," the Doctor told her, reaching out to place a hand on Astra's shoulder, stopping her before she could end up unbalancing the Hatter, "You need to be a little patient right now. Besides, this snow isn't very nice…" he pulled a disgusted face and stuck his tongue out, making Astra giggle and instantly distracting her from possibly any impending tantrum.

The Hatter sighed in relief, giving the Doctor a brief smile, "Nice save, sweetheart".

"Dad skills," he winked at her, making her laugh. Yes, perhaps dragging Astra along with them wasn't the best idea with snow involved, but it had been a bit late to take her to visit the Hatter's old companions, Max and Alice, who happened to live in this era and had a house not too far away from the park they had taken residence above. Whenever Astra was getting a little restless with only their company or they themselves needed a break to be together, Alice and Max were more than happy to babysit, given that they didn't have any children of their own.

"They've taken samples from all the snowmen all over London," Strax suddenly called to them from where he was still spying on the Intuitions gates, standing just on the edge of the corner, apparently not aware of how distracted the Time Lords had been for the past few minutes. He turned around from the corner, lowering his binoculars to look at them, "What do you suppose they're doing in there?"

"Nothing good, I would imagine," the Hatter said grimly, struggling to stand properly, the Doctor quickly leaping up from his own crouch to help her, given that she couldn't bend very much in her corset. Why had she tightened it so much? Idiotic her, or should she blame the Doctor, considering he'd been the one who had been positively delighted to help her put the damn thing on, even though she was perfectly used to doing so after centuries of wearing one on Gallifrey. Once straightened, she lightly kicked a bit of snow with the toe of her boot, "This snow really is very odd, I've never seen anything like it before," she looked at the Doctor, who nodded in agreement, "No doubt it's alien, but for what purpose?"

The Doctor looked briefly thoughtful, staring at her face for a long moment, while Astra huffed in annoyance at how boring they were all being and instead plopped herself down on the snow, letting go of her mother's hand to start building a pile of snow with her gloved hands, instantly making the fabric wet. The Hatter cast her a quick look, not entirely pleased with the idea of Astra mucking around with the snow if it was alien, but trying to pull a toddler away from a toy…ouch. For now, everything _seemed_ perfectly fine and the snow hadn't tried anything yet, but she would be keeping a very, very close eye on things.

"When you find something brand new in the world," the Doctor began after a moment, also casting Astra a quick look, "Something you've never seen before, what's the next thing you look for?"

There was a brief pause, the Hatter giving Strax an encouraging look, hoping that he might prove himself to be intelligent yet….

"A grenade!" Strax cried eagerly, pointing at them.

The Hatter sighed, closing her eyes briefly as the Doctor gave him a exasperated look, "No, Strax," she shook her head, turning away from him to grab Astra, picking her up out of the snow, deciding that she really couldn't relax with Astra playing with the snow, even if everything seemed perfectly fine. Instead, she settled the Time Tot on her hip, brushing flecks of snow off her dress.

"A profit, Strax," the Doctor said firmly, struggling to hold back an eye roll, "That's Victorian values for you," he exchanged a look with the Time Lady.

Strax straightened, holding his head high…or as high as he could, given his lack of a neck, "I suggest a full frontal assault with automated laser monkeys, scalpel mines and acid," he declared proudly.

The Time Lady tried, she truly did try not to sigh, but it just couldn't be helped as she raised her eyebrows at Strax, "And the purpose of all of that would be…?" she questioned, leaving it hanging.

He looked down for a moment, struggling to reply, before he hastily looked back up to them with a hopeful look, "Couldn't we at least investigate?"

That actually did make her smile, opening her mouth to happily agree, when she caught sight of the Doctor's expression, how grim it had turned. He had closed down again, she could see it in his eyes, but for a brief moment there it had almost been like the old days again. She missed it so much, she felt as though she only had half of her husband and best friend now.

The Doctor shook his head firmly, "It's none of our business," he muttered, reaching out to take the Hatter's hand, meeting her eyes. She was frowning at him, disappointment clear in her expression and he hated it, hated seeing her looking at him like that, knowing he had caused it, but…he just didn't see what else he could do. He'd lost too many people and the way they had lost Amy and Rory…they had never meant to be yet another victim, better he keep from ruining any more innocent lives. But if the Hatter wished to investigate…he would never stop her, he wouldn't ever dream of doing such a thing, he'd happily take care of Astra and let her do all the investigating, if that was what made her happy, and he would do anything to make her happy. Anything.

"Sir," Strax said, straightening once more, like a good little solider, "Permission to express my opposition to your current apathy?"

The Doctor pulled his eyes off the Time Lady, sighing heavily as he reluctantly looked back over to Strax, "Permission granted," he replied tiredly, just wanting to be left alone.

"Sir, I am opposed to your current apathy".

"Let me out!" Clara's shouts seem to rise in volume, still trying to force the coach's door open, her voice muffled.

"Thank you, Stax," the Doctor said grimly, giving him an annoyed look. The Hatter closed her eyes and shook her head, sensing what was coming next, "And if ever I'm in need of advice from a psychotic potato dwarf…" he narrowed his eyes on Strax, ignoring the disapproving look the Hatter was giving him as he continued, "You'll certainly be the first to know".

"Doctor…" the Hatter said with a warning tone in her voice, settling Astra back on the ground on her own feet, her shoulder starting to arch from holding her. She really didn't wish for Astra to witness her father insulting someone, let alone someone who was merely trying to help, even if it really wasn't very helpful. That was not the sort of thing she wished Astra to think was okay, that bullying and insulting someone was perfectly fine, and children at Astra's age were like little sponges. They heard and watched everything that their parents did, and enjoyed trying to copy that behaviour later.

The Doctor shifted slightly guiltily, giving her a quick, apologetic look as he lightly pattered the top of Astra's head, regretting his words now. Yes, perhaps they were harsher and meaner then he had intended. He really needed to keep his own frustration and annoyance under better control.

"But if the snow is _new_ and _alien_ ," Strax tried again, frowning slightly in puzzlement, "Shouldn't we be making some attempt to destroy it? Be reasonable".

The Hatter blinked, giving him a startled look, "You consider destroying something _reasonable_?" she paused, considering it, "Oh, who am I kidding? Of course you do, Strax".

"Let me out!" Clara shouted again.

The Doctor fixed Strax with a firm, grim look, "It is not our problem," he told him, his voice soft and very calm. He caught the Hatter's eye briefly, inwardly sighing as he noticed the slight hint of disappointment in her eyes, feeling it almost like a physical blow to his chest, knowing he had caused it. He never wanted to see her look at him like that, but he felt as though he was caught between wanting to do what he believed was right and wanting to see her smile proudly at him again. He took a deep breath, trying to steady his own convection, turning back to Strax, "Over a thousand years of saving the Universe, Strax, you know the one thing I learned? The Universe doesn't care".

"But I do," the Hatter said softly, feeling her hearts breaking, seeing him like this. She had seen him at so many low points throughout their lives, but this time she felt lost as to what to do. He didn't need comforting or consoling, he had simply accepted what he believed to be the truth and that was somehow so much worse. She reached out and took his hand, squeezing it firmly as he looked back to her, feeling that same sense of hopelessness wash over her again. What could she even do to try to change his mind? How could she even _begin_ to make him see that that wasn't true? The Universe might be a thankless place, but that wasn't the reason for why they did what they did, they had never sourced a reward for their actions or sacrifices, simply knowing that you had done what was right and helped others was the reward. She feared the Doctor had forgotten that.

"…in this cab!" Clara was still yelling, making the entire cabin of the coach shake with her banging, "Oi, Doctor! Hatter! Let me out! Are you listening to me?"

The Time Lady winced, swallowing hard against the look the Doctor was giving her, looking as though he wanted nothing more than to hug her tightly, "Okay, I think we need to do something about _that_ …" she gestured back over towards the coach with her thumb, trying to get back on track, "She's going to end up hurting herself at this rate".

"Let me out!"

"'Lara's upset, Daddy," Astra said with a sad pout, fixing her green eyes on her father, as though blaming him for Clara's shouting and banging, which was half true, though the Hatter hadn't exactly argued against the idea of locking Clara in the coach.

"So she is, my little star," the Doctor nodded, bending down slightly so that he could bop her nose, instantly making her scrunch her face up, just as the Hatter always did when he did it to her. He struggled to hold back a laugh, "We'd better fix that, hadn't we?"

Astra nodded eagerly, smiling widely up to him as she swung her mother's arm in excitement, feeling as though she was being helpful. She grabbed his hand and began tugging both Time Lords over towards the coach, the Hatter laughing faintly at her eagerness before she quickly wiped the expression off her face as they reached the door, reaching out to pull it open.

"Oi!" Clara exclaimed, just as the door flew open. She instantly retreated back into the corner of the coach cabin, away from the doorway, her eyes moving rapidly between them, panting slightly from all the shouting.

"It's going to perfectly okay," the Hatter tried to reassure her, giving her a soothing, gentle smile, "Don't panic, we mean you know harm," she climbed up onto the step and joined her in the cabin, sliding into the seat across from her, while the Doctor and Astra followed suit.

Clara's eyes widened, catching sight of Strax standing guard on the door, his expression stony, "What is that thing?" she demanded, staring at him in disgust.

"Silence, boy!" Strax ordered.

"That's Strax," the Doctor informed Clara, giving Strax a quick look, "And as you can see, he's _easily confused_ ".

"Clara's female, Stax," the Hatter gave him a slightly strained smile.

Strax slowly looked back to Clara, "Silence, _girl_ ," he corrected, earning a brighter smile from the Time Lady, before he went on with, "Sorry, lad".

The Time Lady reached up pinch the bridge of her nose, struggling to hold back an eye roll, "Don't be offended," she said to Clara, "He doesn't mean anything by it, truly. He's a Sontaran".

"Clone warrior race," the Doctor added, noticing the slightly bemused expression on Clara's face, "Factory produced, whole legions at a time," he waved it off dismissively, glancing back over to Strax, who was frowning, "Two genders is a bit further than he can count".

Strax looked embarrassedly at Clara and back to the Time Lords, shifting slightly on the spot, "Sir, do not discuss my reproduction cycle in front of enemy _girls_ ," he muttered out of the corner of his mouth, "It's embarrassing".

"Typical middle child of six million," the Doctor whispered to Clara.

Clara stared at the Time Lords, "Who are you?" she asked curiously, her eyes very wide, near impossibly so, the Hatter would have thought.

"Oh, no one of any great importance," the Hatter replied carelessly, giving her a bright smile, taking her features in a bit more carefully than before. It truly was amazing how similar she was, right down to even her voice, but how?

"You won't even remember ever meeting us," the Doctor remarked lightly, glancing at the Time Lady out of the corner of his eye, frowning very slightly as he noticed how intently she seemed to be looking at the young human woman again. What was it about the girl that had sparked such an interest in the Hatter? She was acting very odd, even for her, which was saying something considering he had witnessed this very same woman using a soup bowl as a teacup when she couldn't find the right cupboard once. He glanced back over to Strax, clearing his throat, "We'll need the worm," he instructed him.

"Sir," Strax nodded, turning and walking out of sight, towards the front of the carriage.

"You'll need the what?" Clara asked quickly in alarm, moving closer towards the door, trying to see where Strax was going, before quickly turning back towards the Time Lords, "The worm?" she shook head hurriedly, confusion and slight panic filling her voice, "What worm?"

"It's perfectly safe," the Hatter said gently, giving her another soothing smile, wrapping her arm around Astra, bringing her closer to her side, Astra eyeing Clara curiously, "The worm won't hurt you, I promise, and I always keep my promises".

The Doctor nodded calmly, "But one touch on your bare skin and you lose the last hour of your memory," he said casually, but it only seemed to make Clara's eyes grow larger with alarm.

The Hatter's expression grew slightly strained, "Yes, but aside from the memory loss, you'll be perfectly fine and dandy," she cleared her throat awkwardly, really wishing the Doctor hadn't opened his mouth, though she had to admit she wasn't overly keen on the idea of using the worm on Clara in the first place. She looked over to the still open door, just as Strax stepped back into view, empty handed and looking at them blankly. She frowned, eyeing him, "Um…what did you do with it, Strax?"

"What did I do with what, ma'am?" Strax stared at her, completely clueless.

"We sent you to get the memory worm," the Doctor reminded him, giving him a strange look.

"Did you?" he asked blankly, frowning as the Hatter groaned and closed her eyes, realising what had happened, "When?" he caught sight of Clara, narrowing his eyes, "Who's he? What are we doing here?" he suddenly looked around the alleyway, smiling happily as the Time Lords exchanged exasperated looks, "Look, it's been snowing!"

"Strax…" the Hatter began warily, feeling a headache coming on, "You forget to use the protective gauntlets, didn't you? We've _talked_ about this, how _important_ they are…"

He looked back to her, completely confused, "Why would I need the gauntlets?" he asked, frowning. The Time Lords exchanged looks, slightly embarrassed that Clara was sitting there to witness this whole mess, a little smile crossing her face. Strax leaned secretly towards them, smiling, "Do you want me to get the memory worm?"

The Doctor gritted his teeth, staring at Strax as though he was only just resisting whacking the back of his head, just as the Time Lady did to him when he was being stupid, "…you…" he ground out through his teeth, exchanging another look with the Hatter.

Astra, on the other hand, was giggling away and clapping excitedly, "Funny potato!" she cooed, not quite able to say Strax's name yet, so she'd taken to calling him the next best thing…though the Hatter had tried to find something a little less offensive.

"Okay, let's try this again," the Hatter announced, forcing a smile, "But this time…I think we'd best supervise".

The Doctor heaved a loud huff of annoyance, giving Strax a dark glare as he moved to climb down from the coach, turning around to pick up Astra to help her down, settling her feet on the snowy floor, just as the Hatter jumped down beside him. Clara, seeing her chance to escape from the confines of the coach, quickly hopped down too, before anyone could try locking the door again, happily moving to lean against the wall of a shop front, watching with an amused expression as Strax climbed beneath the front of the coach, searching for the worm, which had apparently escaped.

"This really doesn't happen very often," the Hatter lied to the girl, coming to stand beside her, feeling slightly awkward about exactly how she was supposed to be acting around the girl. She kept one hand firmly on Astra's shoulder, keeping her from trying to sneak under the coach to help Strax.

Clara smirked and crossed her arms across her chest, "You sure about that?" she raised her eyebrows.

The Time Lady sighed, looking back to see Strax's legs just poking out from beneath the coach, while the Doctor tried peering down at him from above, "Oh, who am I kidding?" she said resignedly, "This sort of thing _always_ happens to us".

The Doctor frowned, trying to get a better look, "Well, can you see it?" he called down to Strax.

"I think I can hear it," Strax said, shifting beneath the carriage.

Clara giggled and lifted her hand up to cover her mouth, just as the Doctor turned around to fix her with a stern look. The Hatter glanced at her, before looking back over to the carriage, trying to figure out what had made her giggle…when she mentally groaned, rolling her eyes. Ah, that explained it.

"Oi," the Doctor pointed at Clara, eyes narrowing as she gave him an innocent look, "Don't try to run off. Stay where you are, the Hatter's watching you…" he nodded over to the Time Lady, who was only standing there, not even trying to look stern or anything.

"Why would I run?" Clara laughed slightly, smirking at him as he turned back towards the carriage, "I know what's going to 'appen next and it's funny".

His head snapped back up, frowning over to her, "What's funny?"

"I'm not sure I'd call it funny," the Hatter commented lightly, drawing the Doctor's attention. She shrugged carelessly, "Predictable, certainly".

The Doctor opened his mouth to ask, confused, but Clara cut across him, "Your little pale…" she smiled slightly, glancing at Strax's legs, "'e's an ugly little fella, isn't he?"

"Hey!" the Time Lady shot her a quick, warning look, "Don't be rude, Strax's might be….not overly bright, but he's very brave and deserving of a bit of respect," she gave the Doctor a pointed look at that, making him wince slightly and drop his gaze onto his feet. She turned back to Clara, lifting her chin proudly, "Strax once gave his life for a friend of ours, so a little less about his physical appearance, thank you".

Clara looked a little awkward under the Hatter's sharp gaze, "Sorry…" she muttered, the Hatter letting at least three seconds tick by before nodding in acceptance. She looked back over to Strax's legs, frowning slightly, "Wait…'ow come 'e's alive?"

"Another friend of ours brought him back," the Doctor informed her, turning back towards the carriage, narrowing his eyes, "I'm not sure all his brains made the return trip!"

"Doctor, honestly?" the Hatter gave him an exasperated look, putting the hand not still holding Astra in place on her hip, "We literally just spoke about respect less than four seconds ago".

"Naughty, Daddy," Astra mimicked her mother's posture, or at least tried to, putting her hand on her hip.

The Doctor winced again, spinning back around on his heel, looking between his girls, "Sorry, dear," he said sheepishly.

"I can see it!" Strax suddenly called.

"Ooh!" he brightened, breaking into a broad smile as he whirled back around towards the carriage, trying to peer down to him again, "Can you reach it? Have you got it?"

There was a brief pause, before…, "Got what, sir?" Strax asked blankly, stilling beneath the carriage.

Clara casually walked around the Doctor and grabbed a set of very thick, dark grey, three-fingered gloves that had been left sitting on the front seat of the coach, "Because _these_ are the gauntlets, aren't they?" she raised her eyebrows at the Doctor, holding them up to see.

The Doctor's head snapped up, blinking as he stared at the gloves.

"Sir, emergency!" Strax cried, sounding quite panicked, "I think I've been run over by a cab".

The Hatter shook her head, feeling as though they truly were making themselves out to be complete idiots with no idea what they were doing. It was hardly the best first impression to be giving to Clara, though she seemed to be more amused than anything else. She lightly pushed the Doctor aside, while he looked as though he was seriously trying to figure out how things like this kept happening to them, and instead grabbed the gloves out of Clara's hands.

"Strax, its okay," she said briskly but gently, "Just climb back out, you haven't been run over, you've just forgotten what you were doing. Clara…" she turned towards the girl, giving her a smile, "Would you be so kind as to make sure Astra doesn't go running off? She's at a bit of a tricky age and I'll be needing to the Doctor's hands to hold the jar for me. Honestly," she huffed slightly, shaking her head as Strax pulled himself out from beneath the carriage, still looking quite alarmed as he began patting himself down for injuries, "If you want something done, just let me do it".

She pulled the gloves on quickly, while Clara took Astra's hand, the little girl seeming quite happy and not at all concerned about the fact that some stranger was holding her hand. The Time Lady didn't bother to try wiggling herself beneath the underside of the carriage, she knew herself that she wouldn't be able to do so in her dress and corset, instead she crouched down and reached beneath the coach, concentration crossing her face as she listened for the sound of the worms squeaking, before breaking into a triumphant grin as she grabbed the slippery, wiggling worm after less than two minutes of grabbing around for it.

"Got it!" she said brightly, just as a glass jar appeared eye level to her, the Doctor holding it tightly as she carefully shoved the wiggling, large, thick grew creature into it, ignoring the way that the snow was seeping through the thick fabric of her skirts and stockings, chilling her legs, "Not something you really want to be playing around with," she remarked, watching closely as the Doctor began sealing the lid over the jar. She noticed Clara staring, still holding Astra's hand, "One touch of the worm can make a person lose an hour of memory, but if it bites you…bye-bye a good couple of decades of your life".

"Well done, dear," the Doctor said proudly, helping her up from the ground, carefully sitting the jar with the worm inside it down on the seat of the coach. He looked up and frowned, noticing Clara still standing there, "You're still not trying to run".

"Well, I'm looking after this one, ain't I?" Clara shrugged slightly, nodding down to Astra, her expression softening slightly as the Hatter eyed her curiously. So she had a soft spot for kids, would the similarities never end? "Anyway…" she looked back up to the Time Lords, eyeing them closely, "I don't understand 'ow the snowman built itself. I'll run once you've explained".

He watched her closely, while the Hatter pulled the gloves off, tossing them back onto the seat, "Clara who?"

"Doctor who?"

He smiled faintly, exchanging a look with the Hatter, "Oh, dangerous question," he remarked.

"What's wrong with dangerous?" she asked, smiling slightly.

The Hatter grinned, "I like you," she said with a little wink, "That's exactly the sort of answer we want to hear…not from you, though, missy," she suddenly pointed at Astra, who looked innocently up at her, before blowing a cheeky raspberry. She sighed, shaking her head as she reached out to take her hand, freeing Clara from her duty, "You truly are my daughter".

The Doctor laughed slightly, moving closer to the Time Lady's side to pat Astra's head, "The snow emits a low level telepathic field…" he began to explain, looking around at all the snow covering the cobble stones of the alleyway.

Clara, however, wasn't listening, her attention on something just around the corner from them, out of the Time Lords sight, "My snowman," she gasped, her eyes widening.

The Time Lady was nodding along with the Doctor's assessment, "It then seems to use this ability to reflect a person's thoughts and memories," she continued thoughtfully, not having noticed anything odd going on, either, "But it's more than just that, it has some form of intelligence, though it's too soon to know if it's being controlled or if it has freewill. Anyway, it seems to be able to hold these thoughts and memories, such as that of a snowman that any child who has lived around snow will have built at some point, and then recreate the shape…"

"No, Hatter!" Clara suddenly grabbed the Hatter's arm, her tone urgent, "My snowman!" she dragged the Time Lady and Astra around the corner, pointing over to where another snowman had appeared a few feet ahead of them.

The Doctor hurried around the corner to join them, blinking slightly at the sight before them, "Ah!" he began rubbing his hands together, while Astra grabbed the Hatter's skirts so tightly that it very nearly unbalanced the Hatter, "Interesting".

"Astra, shh," the Hatter breathed gently, bending down to pick her up, Astra immediately snuggling her face into the Time Lady's neck. She rubbed her back soothingly, edging closer to the snowman alongside the Doctor and Clara, "It's okay, my darling, Mummy and Daddy are here. We won't let anything _ever_ happen to you, not _ever_ ," she frowned slightly, eyeing the sinister snowman closely over the top of Astra's head, "Clara, I don't suppose you were thinking about the snowman before you noticed it appear?"

"Yes," Clara nodded, just as a second snowman appeared in a puff of snow beside the first, both glaring back at them with black eyes.

"Well, stop," the Doctor told her, his voice growing slightly higher, throwing Astra a worried look. She wasn't exactly a tiny little baby anymore and the Hatter…well, physical strength wasn't really this regenerations strong suit, and Astra really did have an iron grip on her when she was frightened. He quickly grabbed Clara's hand and the Hatter's elbow, spinning them around to try and escape back the way they had come…only another snowman had appeared, blocking their way as they came to a sudden stop, "Clara, _stop_ thinking about the snowman!"

Suddenly, the snowman opened its mouth with an animalist roar and flecks of snow and freezing cold air came flying towards them, making Clara yelp and Astra cry.

"Duck!" the Hatter shouted, trying to use her body to shield Astra from the snowmen as they huddled together, trying to edge away from the snowmen, but they were trapped between them and as if things couldn't get worse, they seemed to be growing in height, towering over them, snowflakes flying around them in a confusing array. She winced as Astra's cries rang in her ears, bouncing off the alleyways walls, "Clara…" she looked franticly to the girl, grabbing her shoulder with her free hand, steadying her, "You need to focus, you need to stop thinking about the snow!"

"It's feeding off your thoughts, Clara," the Doctor said urgently, throwing the ever growing snowmen a slightly panicked look.

"I don't understand," Clara shook her head, looking quite fearful.

"You're caught in their telepathic field," he explained hurriedly, raising his voice over Astra's cries and the snowman's growling, "They're mirroring you! The more you think about the snowman, the more they appear".

"You need to picture them melting," the Hatter urged her, tightening her hold on her shoulder, "Please, just focus on that image. Imagine them melting away into water, you _need_ to picture it!"

Clara squeezed her eyes closed, desperately trying to imagine the snowmen melting, picturing the sun bathing them and warming the snow, trying with all her concentration…suddenly, ice cold water splashed over them from both sides of the alley, drenching them as they all gasped, even Astra's cries stopped at the shock of the ice cold that hit them. Of course, it didn't last long before she was crying again, this time from the cold and wetness of her clothing weighing her down, but it was better than her being frightened, in the Time Lords minds. The Hatter tried soothing her, blinking water out of her eyes as she looked around quickly, relieved to find the snowman all melted.

"Well," the Doctor winced slightly at the chill and damp of his clothing, patting Clara's shoulder, "Very good. Very, very good. Ha!" he straightened and moved to press a kiss onto Astra's wet hair, before quickly snagging a kiss from the Hatter's lips, simply happy to have escaped, again.

"Is that going to 'appen again?" Clara asked as she fell back against the wall of the alleyway, frowning at the bare patches of cobblestones, where the snowmen had melted away the snow.

"Possibly," the Hatter said, giving her a gentle smile as she moved closer to her, Astra's cries slowly lessoning, "But look at the positive: now you know how to fight back against them".

She climbed back onto her feet, eyeing them, "Unless I forget".

The Hatter's smile slipped slightly, glancing at the Doctor, who blinked in surprise. He looked back to the Time Lady, a long pause falling over them as the Time Lords considered each other, the Hatter lifting her eyebrows, almost challenging.

"Oh…" the Doctor sighed reluctantly, reaching up to push his damp fridge off his forehead, glancing back to Clare, "Oh, alright. Fine!" he rolled his eyes, meeting the Hatter's eyes again, as she grinned, "You win, dear, like always".

She laughed, winking, "No sweeter words exist in the Universe, sweetheart".

"Oh, I think I could think of a few more, dear…"

The Hatter blushed brightly and coughed awkwardly, sensing Clara's eyes on her, "Anyway!" she said, her voice a bit higher than normal, forcing herself to look at Clara, "I think it's about time we get you back to where you belong, don't you?"

The Doctor cleared his throat, though he did feel rather proud of himself for managing to make the Time Lady blush so brightly, but it really wasn't the time or place for that sort of thing. He moved to grab Clara's arm, starting to lead her back down the alleyway and around the corner to where the carriage was still parked, the Hatter right on his heels, murmuring soothing words to Astra beneath her breathe.

"Don't come looking for us," he told the girl firmly, opening the coach door for her and lightly pushing her into the cabin, "Forget about us. You understand?"

Clara paused in the doorway, looking back to them with a frown, "What about the snow?" she asked them, her eyes flickering between them, "Shouldn't we be warning people?"

"Not our problem," he said simply, while the Hatter looked at him with a hint of disproving. He closed the carriage door on Clara's face, "Merry Christmas," he pattered the window before turning around, taking Astra from the Hatter's arms, smiling softly as Astra instantly snuggled into his chest.

The Hatter smiled at the sight before glancing over to Strax, who had settled at the front of the carriage, holding the horses reigns, "Please take Clara back to where you picked us up, Strax," she instructed him, before wiggling her fingers through the window to Clara in goodbye, her expression growing slightly apologetic.

"Ma'am," Strax nodded, setting the carriage off.

The Time Lords turned to begin walking off down the alleyway again, Astra actually almost falling asleep in the Doctor's arms with her ear pressed against his chest and wrapped up in his coat. Thankfully, by the time they had reached the park that they had parked the TARDIS in the clouds above, Astra was fast asleep, apparently not even still wearing damp clothing was enough to keep her up. The park was rather small and surrounded by rows of white terrace houses, the entire street silent at the late hour, no sign of any lights being on within the houses around them. The Doctor went to jump over the pointed, iron fence that went around the entire park, but the Hatter rolled her eyes and grabbed his elbow, gently tugging him over towards the gate just a few steps up.

"Honestly, sweetheart…" she muttered, giving him a look over her shoulder, "Trying to jump a fence with a sleeping infant in your arms? How is it that you managed to survive without me?"

"Only by sheer luck, apparently, dear," the Doctor whispered, flashing her a quick grin.

She couldn't help laughing at that, pausing by the gate to give him a brief kiss, mindful not to press to closely to his chest with Astra snuggled up in his arms, but thankfully she only stirred slightly before falling fast asleep. The Hatter very carefully and slowly opened the gate, managing to avoid making too much noise as they slipped into the park, their feet sinking into the thick snow covering the ground, making their way casually into the very middle of the park, casting their eyes around, just to make sure that truly everyone was asleep.

Once satisfied, the Doctor gave a nod and the Hatter grinned, suddenly taking a big jump directly up, until her hands grabbed onto the last rung of a silver ladder hidden from view by the fluffy, thick cloud above them, her feet dangling several inches above the ground until her weight begin to pull the rest of the ladder down. The ladder fully descended and the Hatter smiled brightly as she glanced at the Doctor, raising her eyebrows.

"Are you sure you can climb with Astra like that?"

"Of course I can, Hatter," the Doctor said at once, quite proudly, "I've got one hand free," he lifted his left hand up, wiggling his fingers to prove as much.

The Hatter eyed him dubiously, "Yes, but this is you, sweetheart, and you're not the most coordinated person even with two hands".

"Oh, you…" he pointed at her, searching for the right word as he narrowed his eyes, before huffing in frustrated, "Shut up and climb".

"In this dress? Think again, I was in such a rush to get the damn thing on I forget to put my usual shorts on".

"And your point is…?" he asked innocently, smirking at her.

The Hatter blushed brightly again, her mouth actually falling open as she stared at him, "The cheek!" she gasped, keeping her voice down low. She stepped closer to him, looking as though she might be about to whack his head, though the Doctor merely continued to smirk. She leaned closer to his ear, whispering, "Don't ever change, sweetheart".

He laughed before he quickly stopped, looking worriedly down to Astra as she shifted in his arms. Still, as he caught the Hatter's eyes again, he couldn't help giving her a little wink before he moved to begin carefully climbing up the ladder, knowing the Hatter would likely be shaking her head at him as she began to follow him. Thankfully, they didn't have to climb all the way up the invisible staircase that wound its way all the way up to the cloud that the TARDIS was currently sitting on, so far up that they had to extend the oxygen field out in order to be able to breathe whenever they left or returned to the time machine. Instead, the staircase was capable of compressing the distance, if you knew where to find the small button on the lading just above the cloud over the park to make it possible, making the usually fifteen minute climb less than two minutes long.

And there she was, the TARDIS, sitting in the middle of what seemed as though it was just fluffy cloud at the very top of the staircase, the stairs of the night sky twinkling so close that it was almost as though you could reach out and touch them. The Hatter smiled at the sight of the time machine and moved to unlock the door for the Doctor before they slipped inside the console room, so different now since Amy and Rory had left. The Doctor had done it one evening, much to her surprise, saying that it hadn't felt right without the Ponds, and the Hatter couldn't have agreed more. The old console room had been the Ponds, almost as much as it had been the Doctor's Eleventh regenerations.

It was still taking a bit of getting used to, but the Hatter found that she very much liked the new desktop theme, though it was slighter darker then she might have preferred. Gone was the soft orange light, instead it had been replaced by a bluish glow that lit up the room, the entrance from the door much shorter now with only two small steps down into the main console area were the control panels were in the middle of the room, Astra's baby seat strapped onto one of the jump seat chairs off to the right of the control panel. Above the controls, on the ceiling on a spinning set of dials, were rows of square segments each featuring the name of one of their old companions in Gallifreyan as remembrance for them all, even the Hatter's past companions had been included, much to her delight. A set of metal stairs branched off from the console, leading up to a catwalk that ran around the sides of the room, overlooking the controls, while another set of stairs lead off down through a doorway to the rest of the time machine. It was…home, beautiful and wonderful and…sexy. Home.

"She's really out to it," the Doctor said softly as he moved closer to the controls, smiling softly down at Astra's face as she slept on in his arms. He had forgotten how tiny they were when they slept like this, he remembered doing the same thing with his daughter and son on Gallifrey, not caring about whether or not his first wife had disapproved, believing that the children ought to stay in the nursery under the care of the nannies. But Astra would never know a life like that, he would hold her whenever he wished, cuddle and kiss her and make sure she knew how much she was loved.

The Hatter smiled as she moved closer, peering over his arm to see, "Poor darling," she murmured affectionately, gently moving a piece of Astra's short fringe off her forehead, "You'd better tuck her into bed, Doctor. She'll be wanting to play in the snow at four in the morning, of course, but that can't be helped," she laughed softly to herself, carefully pressing a gentle kiss onto Astra's forehead, "Sleep well, my darling".

"Be right back," he said before moving around the console, heading off down the stairs and disappearing down the hallway.

The Time Lady unpinned her hat from her hair, settling it on the console, humming a Christmas carol to herself as she made quick work of taking her hair down from its arrangement, instantly feeling a great sense of relief upon her head as the last pin was removed and her hair was freed. She really wasn't a fan of having her hair up; she expected it was a result of having it up so often during her First regeneration. She happily slipped her hat back on, just as the Doctor returned, skipping up the stairs to move to join her by the controls.

"Are we feeling a bit more cheerful now?" she asked him, lifting her eyebrows, knowing perfectly well that he would be much brighter and happier now that their little excursion had ended.

"I'm always cheerful when I'm around you, dear," the Doctor replied instantly, flashing her a cheeky smile as he edged closer to her, leaning into kiss her.

The Hatter easily avoided him, however, suddenly taking a step around the console away from him, "Flattery will not work," she warned him, waving a finger at him as he blinked at her, looking quite surprised, "Honestly, Doctor. Vastra is only trying to help…"

The Doctor's shoulders tensed and his expression grew grim, frowning deeply down at something on the control panel before him, "She has no business getting involved in our affairs…"

"She's our friend and she's concerned, Doctor," she frowned at him, moving back around to stand in front of him, eyeing him closely, "And I don't blame her. I'm worried, too".

"Hatter…" the Doctor reached out to gently pull her closer to him, giving her a sweet, gentle smile that was slightly tinged with sadness, trying to hold back memories of Amy and Rory, "I'm okay," he said quietly, sighing, "I know you're worried, but as long as I've got you and Astra, my Universe is perfect".

The Hatter's frown only deepened, not buying it for a second, and her concern was only growing worse. The Doctor had tried to retire in the past, though it had never worked for very long, but he had never given up on investigating strange, alien activity before, not like this. He seemed completely willing to let Vastra deal with the snow, but she knew he hadn't completely lost that spark. She had seen it, just briefly that evening, and she knew that all it took was the right thing to bring it back to life again. She went to open her mouth, deciding, reluctantly, that this wasn't going to get her anywhere and that suggesting that perhaps they ought to have some hot chocolate and maybe play a round of chess, but she didn't even get the chance to say a word before a knock sounded on the TARDIS doors. They both frowned and looked over to the doors, before exchanging a quick look.

"Was that…?" the Doctor trailed off, pointing at the door.

"A knock, yeah," she nodded slowly, looking back over to the door, confused, "That was someone knocking".

It shouldn't be possible for someone to be knocking, only Vastra and her little team knew about them being up in the clouds, and she would have called them rather than pay them a visit in person. Max and Alice, also knew, though they certainly wouldn't be dropping by for a cup of tea at eleven thirty at night, so who was it?

The Doctor slowly moved closer to the doorway, the Hatter right on his heels as he opened the doors and they both peered outside, only to find no one there, "Hello?" he called out into the mist, looking around before carefully stepping outside the doorway, the Hatter stepping out behind him. He paused and turned back towards the time machine, sensing someone there but he simply couldn't see them, "Hello?" he looked in confuse to the Time Lady, who simply shrugged before moving to slip around the left side of the box, the Doctor trailing behind her, "Hello?"

"Is anyone there?" the Hatter asked loudly, quickly jumping around the corner, until she was standing at the very back of the box, trying to peer through the thick, fluffy cloud floating in the air around them.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps dashing down the metal stairs of the staircase sounded, instantly making the Time Lords tense and looked at each other, confirmation that someone had, indeed, been there. They hurried around the corner and back around to the front of the time machine, the footsteps growing fainter as the mysterious person hurried further away from the cloud. They edged closer towards the stairs, when the Hatter frowned and bent down, picking up a dark red shawl that had been dropped.

"Clara," she said quietly, straightening with the cloth in her hand to look at the Doctor. She was almost smiling, however, "We ought to have known she would follow us".

The Doctor sighed heavily, eyeing the fabric in her hand with a grim look, "Humans," he muttered, shaking his head, "Always so…curious".

He cast the staircase a quick look, seeming to be considering whether or not it was worth going after the girl, before he shook his head again and turned to head back into the TARDIS. The Hatter lingered a moment longer, still smiling softly to herself, feeling rather impressed and pleased, though she wouldn't admit that to the Doctor. This could very well end up working in her favour.

…

The next day dawned and, upon the Doctor's insistence, the TARDIS had been moved on to another park close to their original location, feeling it was best if Clara attempted to come calling again. The Hatter hadn't agreed, though she hadn't tried to talk him out of it either, she was more amused than anything about it, if she was being honest. She could tell that Clara was rather determined, why else would she climb a invisible staircase all the way up to the clouds if she wasn't? The Doctor might have believed it would be enough to stop the girl from trying to learn more about them, but the Hatter knew differently.

It was just after lunch time, the Hatter humming to herself as she lightly dusted the console, polishing it up so that some of the more shinny instruments caught the light just the right way, not that she was doing it for any special reason, not at all…she always dusted the console when she had free time…The Doctor was sitting in one of the jump-seats with Amy's old glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, Astra in his lap as he held up different flashcards with a different alien species on it, trying to teach Astra to recognise them, both as a way of teaching her about some of the more dangerous species that they might encounter and as a way to slowly get her used to learning more about the Universe. She truly was very curious about everything, eagerly taking to everything that they began to teach her and not once complaining, though they only did it in very short, ten minute bursts after meals. She might have been clever and very excited to learn, but she was still only eighteen months old. She needed to play with her toys more then she needed to be tutored right now, even if her favourite toys did function as another source of education.

"Astra…" the Doctor held up a white card with a small picture of a Cyberman on it, "Do you remember what this one is?"

"Metal man!" Astra cheered at once, looking eagerly up to his face for his approval.

He smiled, nodding proudly, "That's right, clever girl," he said brightly, while the Hatter smiled over at them fondly, "Now…what do we do if we see a Cyberman?"

"Run! Danger!"

"Remember, Astra," the Hatter moved around the console, coming to crutch beside their chair, bringing her eye level with her, "It's very, very important that you listen to Mummy and Daddy, understand? And you always make sure that you can _see_ one of us, you never, ever go running off on your own".

Astra nodded quickly, her expression suddenly very serious. It had been something they had been trying to teach her ever since she had first began walking, she might be intelligent for her age, but she was still only a toddler and toddlers loved to go off exploring on their own, Astra more so then most with her curiosity with everything new and different. It was more important than ever that she began to learn how important it was that she did as she was told and stayed with one of them at all times; the idea of something happening to her…it terrified them beyond anything else.

Just then, the phone on the console began ringing loudly. The Hatter rose from her crouch, feeling far more comfortable in her usual skirt and bright pink top then in one of those Victorian dresses, crossing back across to the console to hit a small button on the controls, silencing the ringing.

"Vastra, I presume?" she lifted her eyebrows, leaning back against the console, facing the Doctor as he huffed in annoyance, "Need a hand with something?"

"Indeed, Hatter," Vastra's voice came over the loud speaker, "Miss Clara and her concerns about the snow," instantly, the Time Lady straightened eagerly, listening intently, "I gave her the one word test".

The Doctor scoffed, almost looking smug, "That's always pointless," he remarked, feeling rather proud of himself for having devised a near impossible test. It had been his agreement with Vastra and the Hatter, his way of attempting to keep both women somewhat happy, that should anyone attempt to contact himself and the Hatter, they first needed to prove themselves by passing his test, only then would he willingly agree to get involved.

The Hatter shot him a quick, slightly warning look, "What was her answer?" she asked, hope washing over her. If Clara was truly as good as she suspected, she knew she would get it right, or rather she desperately hoped that she would. There was a brief pause, making her frown in annoyance at the speaker, knowing Vastra was just doing it for dramatic effect, "Just tell us, please. Stop dragging it out!"

"Pond," Vastra replied, and the Hatter's head snapped up to look across to the Doctor, finding him staring at her with wide eyes, slowly reaching up to take his glasses off, swallowing hard as he looked at them. Even Astra had looked up at that, looking curiously towards the speaker as Vastra continued, "Strax has already suggested where to start investigating…"

"Yes…" the Doctor cut across her, his voice sounding weaker than normal, blinking rapidly, "Yes, we'll…" he shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts, "Give us ten minutes, we'll meet him down there".

The Hatter ended the call, watching the Doctor closely as he remained quite still, Astra still sitting in his lap. She allowed a few seconds to tick by, before clearing her throat and pushing off the console, gaining his attention, "I guess I'd better check with Max and Alice to see if they're free for the evening," she commented, glancing at Astra and back up to him, "I expect it's going to be a long night".

The Doctor sighed and nodded silently, still not moving even after she had taken Astra from his lap, turning to head off down the hallway to change their clothing for something more fitting of the period, her blue dress still hanging up in their room. Yes, a long evening and this time, he couldn't even get away with complaining because he was only following his own rules, the rule that was supposed to be impossible for anyone to actually get right. Just _who_ was this Clara girl?

….…..

The Doctor and the Hatter exchanged a brief grin with each other, their arms linked together as they walked behind the dark haired servant leading them down the long hallway within the Institute, the man looking rather frazzled as he kept shooting them quick looks over his shoulder, not that the Time Lady could really blame him as she caught his eye and winked, holding back a laugh as the man stumbled slightly before quickening his pace. She supposed it was a little mean to be pretending to be Sherlock Holmes and Doctor _Joan_ Watson, but it had simply been too good to pass up and she had always been rather fond of likening herself to Watson and the Doctor as Holmes, the Third Doctor had even had the right coat for it. So, of course when she had found a deerstalker hat and Inverness coat in the wardrobe, she hadn't been able to resist shoving them in the Doctor's direction, anything to wipe that sulkily expression off his face. It had worked wonderfully, earning herself a big smile and a kiss, and he truly did look quite handsome in the outfit, pipe and cane included.

"Um…" the man suddenly stopped just outside a seat of dark woodened doors, struggling to maintain his composer as he glanced between them, looking caught between giddy excitement and nerves, "Please wait here…Mr Holmes, Doctor Watson. I'll just inform Doctor Simeon of your arrival".

"Thank you," the Hatter nodded to him, smiling brightly at how affective their disguise was, though why the man hadn't seemed to have noticed that Watson was a woman was still puzzling her slightly, since she was wearing her dark blue dress and matching hat from the night before.

The man hastily turned back to the doors and opened them, slipping inside the room as the doors swung closed behind him. The Doctor grinned happily at the Hatter, his pipe between his lips and his cane clasped in his right hand.

"Have I ever mentioned how much I love you?" he murmured to her, slipping the pipe out of his mouth. It wasn't a real pipe, but it was effective.

"Why, Holmes," she mock gasped, "I'm quite certain you have just made a number of your fans dreams come true".

"What?" he blinked, looking slightly confused before it clicked into place that she was teasing him, making him roll his eyes fondly as she laughed, "Oh, I see what you did there…Holmes and Watson, in love…" he shook his head as she continued to giggle, "I didn't realise you were a fan of those two?"

She grinned, "Still surprising you, even after all these years of marriage?"

"Every single day, dear".

"Good," she pressed a light kiss to his cheek, winking as she pulled back, "I would so hate to be predictable".

The Doctor gave her a soft, gentle look, wanting nothing more than to pull her closer to him and just hold her without needing to worry about keeping an eye on Astra, Max and Alice more than happy to babysit for them, once they'd explained what was happening. Sadly, however, they did still have a job to do and so cuddle time was going to have to wait until much later, instead he cast the double doors a thoughtful look.

"Shall we do the whole dramatic entrance thing?" he asked her, lifting his eyebrows, though he knew already what her response would be.

"Doctor, you say that as if every time I walk into a room isn't a dramatic entrance. Why give up the habit of a thousand years?"

Happily, he stuck his pipe back into his mouth and the two of them strolled towards the doors, throwing them open with a loud bang that was sure to gain anyone's attention, walking into the very large, Victorian style room with their arms still linked and the Doctor's coat flapping behind him. In the very middle of the room, sitting on a white raised platform was what appeared to be a massive snow globe, filled with snow that flew around the inside of the globe, as a well-dressed, middle aged man whirled around to stare at them with a deep frown, Doctor Simeon, no doubt, while the servant watched them closely.

"Oh, nice office," the Doctor remarked as he looked around the room, speaking around his pipe, "Big globy thing," he eyed the globe curiously and slipped the pipe out of his mouth, suddenly pointing his cane towards Simeon, "Now, shut up, don't tell me! I see from your collar stud you have an apple tree and a wife with a limp. Am I right?" he lowered his cane onto the floor beside him, still eyeing the man.

The Hatter blinked, giving him an odd look, "How does a collar stud tell you any of that?" she shook her head, struggling to hold back another giggle as the Doctor blushed slightly, though he wasn't to be deterred from playing his role. Honestly, the man clearly wasn't wearing a wedding ring, so he obviously wasn't married and as for the wife with a limp… _how_? How was it even possible to tell that from looking at the man before them?

Simeon began to walk down the steps of the raised platform, his expression hard, "No," he said to the Doctor.

"Do you have a wife?" he asked, hopeful.

"No".

"No wedding ring, Doctor," the Hatter muttered, trying to peer around Simeon, wanting a closer look of that very curious globe.

"Bit of a tree?" he tried again, growing a bit more desperate to make _one_ correct deduction. He knew he should have insisted the Hatter play Holmes, she'd always been more like Holmes to him then Watson, but she'd used the 'I'm a proper doctor' excuse and he hadn't been able to argue much more, distracted by the sight of her bodice not being completely buttoned up by that point, "Bit of a wife? Some apples?" he sighed in frustration, looking hopefully over to the servant, "Come on, work with me here".

Simeon came to a stop directly before the Time Lords, looking between them with cold, emotionless pale blue eyes, "I enjoy 'The Strand' magazine as much as the next man," he said, narrowing his eyes, "But I am perfectly aware that Sherlock Holmes and his _male_ companion…" he shot the Time Lady a pointed look, "…are fictional characters. Get out!" he shouted, glaring by the end.

The Doctor completely ignored him, turning towards the servant, pointing his cane at him, "Do you have a goldfish named Colin?"

The man actually considered it briefly, "No".

He glanced back to Simeon, smirking slightly smugly as the Hatter gave him a little smile, "Thought not".

"You're adorable, sweetheart," the Hatter told him brightly, resisting the urge to kiss his cheek, not with Simeon glaring down their necks like he currently was, looking as though he was picturing their painful deaths with each word that came out of the Doctor's mouth. She was quite used to witnessing that expression now, however, so she couldn't say she was overly bothered by it. She couldn't stop giving him a little wink, though, "You're definitely my favourite version of Holmes from now on…" she said softly, instantly making the Doctor lift his chin proudly, before she continued with, "…though, it does rather seem as though Watson is the one with all the brains, this time around".

"Oi!" the Doctor pointed at her, pouting. Of course, it only made her laugh and wink again; she couldn't possibly let his ego grow too much, for the safety of everyone within the room in danger of possibly being crushed by it, including herself. He gave her a mock warning look, that was about as threatening as him throwing a pillow at her, when he noticed something on the desk behind him, "Now, ooh…" he grabbed a small card off the desk, allowing his eyes to quickly sweep over everything sitting on top of the desk, sensing the Hatter doing the same beside him, peering over his shoulder easily, "I see this is one of your business cards," he spun back around to face Simeon, holding the card up for him to see, smirking at him, knowing that he was getting to him. The Hatter really was rubbing off on him, antagonising people like this, "It says so on the front".

Simeon swiped the card out of his hands, not seeming to notice the Hatter carefully edging away from them, moving to take a closer look of the globe, "Who are you?" he demanded, eyes narrowed, "And what are you doing here?"

The Doctor glared back at him, his expression hard, "This!" he said, just before he suddenly sidestepped him, dashing over to the small steps of the platform, "Wakey, wakey!" he called loudly, reaching the globe and hitting the glass with the end of his cane, causing it to ring, before doing it a second time.

The Hatter ducked as the machinery sparked, quickly straightening in a swirl of blue and black, "Nice to see you channelling a bit of Five, sweetheart," she remarked fondly, earning a wink from him through the glass, before she turned her attention back onto the machinery, growing serious once more.

Simeon ran after the Doctor, managing to grab his arm holding the cane mid-swing, wrestling with him to try and stop him from whacking the glass once more, "That is highly valuable equipment," he glared at him, firmly grasping the cane, but his tone remained strangely calm, "You must step away now".

There was a loud humming noise from the machinery and the Hatter frowned, eyeing how the snow within the globe began to swirl around more violently than ever, the humming noise growing louder and louder, seeming to be emitting from a Victorian version of a speaker system she hadn't noticed until now. All of the equipment was giving her a bit of a Steampunk vibe, which reminded her sadly of her old, lost TARDIS and its beautiful Steampunk style console.

"We are the Intelligence," a deep, male voice spoke from the speakers, while the snow swirled around and around the globe.

The Hatter's eyes widened, staring back to the globe in surprise, "Did…did the snow just… _speak_?" she slowly looked over to the Doctor, who had stopped trying to wrestle his cane from Simeon's hold, his eyes lighting up in delight. She broke into a wide smile, excitement washing over her, "Oh, that is so…cool!"

"Cool and new, dear!" the Doctor cheered, suddenly looking like a six year old at Christmas. In fact, when he got that look on his face, suddenly the Hatter could see the faint similarities that he shared with Astra, they both had the same look in their eyes when they got excited, the same smile. He looked back over his shoulder to see her through the glass, "Oh, I love new things".

"So do I," she breathed, quickly turning her gaze back onto the globe, before she frowned, "Wait…the Intelligence? I've heard that before, but where?" she paused, rolling her eyes at herself, blimey she was getting old, "Or rather _when_?"

"You are not of this world," the voice spoke again, clearly speaking to the Time Lords.

"Takes one to snow one," the Doctor shot back, laughing as he looked at Simeon's very unimpressed expression, positively glaring at him. He winced slightly and looked hopefully over to the Hatter, but she was too busy focusing on the globe, slowly circling it with an intent look of concentration on her face. Great, she was the only one who ever seem to find his jokes funny and she hadn't even heard it, just wonderful.

"The Intelligence," the Hatter repeated slowly, narrowing her eyes as she moved around the machinery, lightly tracing the glass with one finger. The snow within the globe seemed to concentration more around her finger, following it as it moved, reminding her of a goldfish…that probably wasn't the best comparison, since it made her want to laugh. She quickly cleared her throat, focusing again, "How interesting you are, for a multinucleate crystalline organism," she raised her eyebrows as she came to a stop, lightly tapping the glass with her fingernails, practically feeling the cold glare Simeon was giving her on the back of her neck, "You have the ability to mimic and mirror, if you will, whatever you can get a copy or telepathic print of, such as a memory of a snowman from the mind of a young woman".

"Looks like snow," the Doctor nodded, coming to stand beside her, reaching out to whack the side of the glass with his cane again, "Isn't snow".

Simeon grabbed the Doctor's arm, making him turn towards him, "You must leave here now," he insisted.

He roughly shook Simeon's hand off him, "Shut up, my wife is making deductions," he took a step back from him, wrapping an arm around the Hatter's waist, "It's very exciting, I always said she'd make a better Holmes then me…"

"Never mind that, Doctor," the Hatter shook her head, though she was smiling despite herself, eyeing the globe curiously.

He flashed her a grin, before turning his attention back onto the globe, neither Time Lord paying attention to Simeon as he turned to step down the platform, moving across the room to pull on a small bell that was on the wall, calling for his servants. Or at least they made it appear as though they didn't know, better to allow the man a false sense of security when they were fully aware of his every move and knew exactly how long they had before any help might arrive. It might have been eight months since their last adventure, but they certainly weren't that rusty.

"Now, what are you, eh?" the Doctor frowned at the globe, narrowing his eyes as he hit the glass with the tip of his cane, "A flock of space crystals? A swarm?" he suggested, slipping his arm from around the Hatter's waist, beginning to circle the machinery as he continued, "The snowmen are foot soldiers, mindless predators. But _you_ …" he hit the globe with his cane, "You're the clever one. You're Moriarty," the Hatter nodded thoughtfully, watching him with a pleased expression on her face, just happy to see him getting back into the swing of things again, "So, you turn up on a planet, you generate a telepathic field to learn what you can, and when you've learnt enough, what do you do?" as he spoke, without turning around, he slipped his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and flashed it over his shoulder to the door, locking it before Simeon's help could arrive.

"Of course, the snowmen are just the foot soldiers," the Hatter said thoughtfully, crossing her left foot behind her right, eyeing the globe closely, "They're all well and good for the first phases of your little plan to conquer the Earth, but they're not advanced enough to truly give you the planet," she looked up, meeting the Doctor's eyes, "They're going to have to evolve".

A loud banging sounded on the other side of the door, "Sir, it appears to be stuck!" a voice called loudly, rattling the doorknob as it refused to move.

Simeon looked over to the door and frowned, quickly throwing the Time Lords a look, "What have you done?" he demanded, moving towards the doors, "Have you locked the doors?" he tried forcing them open, pulling on the golden handles.

"We haven't the foggiest idea what you're talking about, Doctor Simeon," the Hatter told him lightly, a hint of mocking in her tone, not taking her eyes off the globe as a faint smile crossed her lips. She really had missed this so very dearly.

The Doctor moved back around to stand beside her, eyeing the globe closely, "You need to translate yourself into something more…well, human," he said to the Intelligence, following the Hatter's train of thought.

"Kick it down!" Simeon shouted through the doors.

"But if they are to make themselves more human," the Hatter went on, ignoring Simeon as she slowly turned on the spot, her eyes coming to rest on the desk on the other side of the room, "They would need a template of human DNA in ice form, not exactly something easy to come by, but obviously they must have an idea in mind if they've decided to allow themselves to be noticed, yes?"

"Sir?" the man's voiced came through the door, the banging growing louder and more frequent on the other side.

"Get in here, quickly!" Simeon snapped, shaking the door handles, but it was utterly pointless. Though, it did provide a perfect distraction, which allowed the Time Lords to do as they wished.

"But where?" the Doctor looked thoughtfully at the Hatter, frowning faintly. She met his eyes and slowly, began to smile, her eyes lighting up as something occurred to her. It took him less than three seconds before his own mind caught on, almost laughing out loud at how simple it was.

"I've got a master key somewhere, sir…"

The Hatter turned and dashed down the steps of the platform, the Doctor right on her heels as she ran across to the desk, grabbing the folder she had noticed sitting on the desk earlier when the Doctor had grabbed the business card. She grabbed it, quickly flicking it open.

"Right, so what might we deduce about this, Mr Holmes?" she smirked, deciding to let the Doctor have a little fun, since he really hadn't had much luck with his deductions, handing him the open file.

He grinned, "Let's see…" he began, "Most opened file," he suddenly tossed the book down onto the desk to clatter with a bang, his grin widening as the file opened onto a page that had clearly been a favourite, since the binding opened it to that one out of all of them, "Most viewed page," he glanced over to Simeon, who had turned away from the door at the noise, his eyes widening, "You know, you really should delete your history".

"Don't think that's quite a thing yet, sweetheart," the Hatter said, before giving a victorious cheer, "Ah, here we are!" she grabbed the old newspaper clipping that had slipped out of the file, holding it between herself and the Doctor for them both to see the headline, "Oh, dear me, 'Tragedy at Darkover House".

"Governess frozen in pond," the Doctor exchanged a look with the Time Lady, before casting Simeon a quick look, "Gotcha!"

Simeon stared at them, looking furious but strangely…detached, as though he was only pretending to feel the emotion, but not quite connecting to it, much like a doll or machine. Of course, he wasn't a robot, the Hatter knew a robot when she saw one, but his emotions did seem quite off. Of course, it was the Victorian era and emotions were not something encouraged, but rather repressed, so perhaps he was merely a man of his time.

"Got it, sir!" the door clicked suddenly, and the Time Lords looked at each other quickly, knowing it was time to make their daring escape.

Simeon's head snapped back around to the door, "Get in here!" he snapped, just as the door swung open and two men dressed in black livery's walked in, "Get them down stairs!" he turned around to glare at the Doctor and the Hatter…only to find that they had vanished, the French window lightly swinging in the breeze.

 _ **Finally finished this chapter, which happens to be the biggest chapter I have ever written, but life has been rather busy as of late. I got there in the end, thankfully. Also, I wish to announce that I've decided to post a draft, if you will, of a possible Time Lady I may or may not decided to turn into a proper series in the future. The draft it written to be taken from the view of any of the most recent male Doctors and is just a tiny glimpse into what the possible Time Lady would be like from the very start of her series, with a great deal of character development planned over the course of the stories. I intend to call it 'Possibilities,' since this new Time Lady has so many possibilities to her character that I've yet to explore, so keep an eye out for that, if you're interested, I really would love it if people could give me some feedback on it so that I can get an idea of if anyone would be interested in me continuing the story.**_

 _ **I've waited for this chapter for years, some of you might have guessed already that there was a connection between the Hatter and Clara, if you read 'The Five Doctors and Hatters,' so what impact will that have in the future, given what we know will happen to Clara and the strain that her relationship with the Doctor will undergo in his Twelfth body. I really am so very excited, I've been planning this for years and it's finally happening! It truly has been so very hard to keep it somewhat of a secret, I really didn't make it overly hard to guess. I'm just so excited to be getting the chance to finally bring this plot into play, but it's not nearly as simple as it seems.**_

 _ **The Hatter's outfit will be on my Tumblr and Pinterest. Next chapter, the Hater worries for the Doctor's sense of humour, the Doctor's own body is working against him, and the Hatter has old story to tell. Tell me what you thought. Please review :)**_

 _ **Guest reviews:**_

 _ **Sam Fraser, Chapter 10:**_ _ **I am so, so sorry for completely forgetting to write my reply in the last chapter, I fully intended to go back and do it, but I must have gotten side tracked and completely forgotten all about it, this is what happens when you don't bother to read over your replies to guest reviews.**_

 _ **I think you bring up a good point when you mention that Hartnell did fight in the war and that that was a possible reason for why he might have held certain views, many people of that generation hold certain negative views about other countries as a result of fighting in the war, my mum is a nurse in an age care facility and it really is quite common to come across it, so I think you bring up a good point there that should be noted. I personally don't believe that Hartnell was racist, but of course you never know the truth and it was such a long time ago now, and with Hartnell long gone, I doubt very much if we shall ever know how he truly felt.**_

 _ **I don't believe that racism shoulder ever be excused and I know that you're not trying to excuse it, the very sad and disgusting thing of our not so recent past history is that it is something that has been a part of society for a very, very long time and is still occurring to this day, which boggles my own mind when I think about it. I think what we need to remember is that there is a great divide between each generations views on certain subjects, such as race or even gender. Today, we live in a world that is still very far from being perfect or completely opened minded, but it's certainly very different from the world that Hartnell grew up and lived in, thankfully. We look back on some of the things that went on back in the 60's or even the 80's and it seems completely appalling to us to this day.**_

 _ **As I said above, I don't know if he was racist, I sincerely hope not and hope that he was more open minded then many of those around him during that time, but we don't know what went on inside his head, nor what his views were. I don't believe he was, based upon those that he worked with during his time on Doctor Who, but we simply don't know.**_

 _ **Sam Fraser (1):**_ _ **Yes, I think you've suggested the book to me in the past, but thank you for reminding me :)**_

 _ **Guest 13 (1):**_ _ **Yes, April Jones was a character from the one-shots, she's also been mentioned several times throughout the main series, and during the 'Five Doctors and Hatters' story that I did years ago. She was one of the Hatter's companions and the only one to die during her travels with the Hatter, so she has a very significant role to play within the Hatter's life.**_

 _ **Guest (1):**_ _ **I would love to write something classic from Two, right when the Hatter was just getting started and finding her own feet, growing into the Time Lady we know to this day. I'll have to consider it, I'm not sure though, I'll have to look into getting my dad to track down the coloured version of it, I think we simply have a reconstructed version, which won't do at all if I wished to write the episode. I'm afraid I've never bothered to try watching any of the reconstructed versions of the episodes, so I really don't know very much about the episode, I couldn't say how the Hatter might react without watching it, but thank you for the suggestion. It's something to look into in the future. Also, I'm delighted to hear that you're enjoying the story thus far, thank you very much :)**_

 _ **Guest 13 (2):**_ _ **Well, I couldn't let Amy and Rory go before hearing Astra say her first word, could I? I felt like it was important that they heard it before they went, I really wanted them to experience that moment with the Doctor and the Hatter when they had been the one's to help bring Astra into the world. Oh, I miss them so much already; I did get very sad writing that final scene with them. I hope it lived up to expectations :)**_

 _ **Sam Fraser (2):**_ _ **I haven't actually seen the leaked footage; I've decided to just stick to watching the trailer and waiting for the actual season to begin, that way I can make up my own mind at the end of the season, rather than before. I do hope that it's been written like that, though, just a simple line of 'Oh, so I'm a woman now? Cool' and just shrugging it off like it's nothing, I feel like it would be better like that, rather than making a big deal over it and having the entire episode based on it. The Doctor's a woman now, great, moving on, something like that.**_

 _ **Guest (2):**_ _ **Thank you for the suggestion, I believe it was already suggested to me on my Tumblr :)**_

 _ **Jay:**_ _ **I would certainly be open to the idea of doing more stories similar to the 'What if' story I did, I had a lot of fun thinking of little changes that I could have done or different interactions and feelings the characters might have experienced in the slightly different setting. I do love that title name too, so I'll certainly be considering it and am open to the idea. Thank you for the suggestion :)**_

 _ **Guest (3):**_ _ **Yes, I think that would have worked out a lot better, if Moffat truly felt it needed to bring sexism into the Christmas special, which I still don't believe it was needed, nor understand why it was included at all. The Captain should have been the one, not the First Doctor, which simply makes no sense and is completely out of character for him. It still annoys me to this day.**_

 _ **Guest (4):**_ _ **The Hatter from that third chapter of 'What if?' has no idea about River, nor that the Doctor was married. They've only been travelling together a short time, less than a month, and they've barely spoken to one another since the Hatter awoke from the watch, so she's completely clueless about River or the complex relationship she has with the Doctor. In fact, I don't see her finding out until they meet during the Christmas special, I feel like the Doctor wouldn't have told her himself. I think that after meeting her, the Hatter would have been very sad at yet another reminder that she had missed out on so much of the Doctor's life, but I feel that she would have eventually have given River her blessing, though it would have been rather bittersweet since it would be the first and last time they would meet before River went to the Library.**_

 _ **Sam Fraser (3):**_ _ **I just did and blimey, it's a little scary, isn't it? All of those news articles, just…wow.**_

 _ **Guest 16:**_ _ **The history between the Doctors parents and the Hatters is not so dissimilar to that of the relationship between the Doctor, the Master, and the Hatter. The Doctor's parents and the Hatter's father went to school together, forming a close friendship, but it came into conflict after both men fell in love with the Doctor's mother. Sadly, the Hatter's father was already promised to wed the Hatter's mother and was forced to give up the woman he loved to do his duty, watching from afar while the woman he loved and the man he once considered to be like a brother married and eventually had two sons together. It also explains why the Hatter's mother was so unhappy, she knew her husband loved someone else and being a very proud woman, it struck a great blow to her own ego and caused her to become very cold and distant.**_

 _ **I want to make it clear, I hate love triangles, I truly do hate them. I find them boring and annoying, and I wrote this history between the Doctor and the Hatter's family when I was much younger then I am now. I was trying to make a more complex layer into the relationships between the families and give a reason for why the Hatter's mother was how the was and why the Hatter's father disapproved of the Doctor. The Doctor is a reminder to him of everything he might have had and lost, and to see him so obviously in love with the Hatter, I imagine, would have been very bittersweet to the Hatter's father. In another life, the Doctor and the Hatter very well could have been siblings, if that isn't unsettling enough.**_

 _ **Guest (5):**_ _ **And this was one of the reasons for why it took me so long to decide if the Doctor and the Hatter would ever have children, it's such a moral and ethical dilemma to bring a child into a dangerous environment like that, I struggled with the idea that the Hatter would allow herself to fall pregnant. It's certainly something that is going to be a great concern for them because no matter how hard they might try to shield Astra, she can't be protected from everything; she can't be prevented from witnessing things that most children would never see. It's something I do intend to explore more, the impact that it has upon Astra, the Doctor and the Hatter's concerns, because it truly is far from the perfect environment to raise a child and they are completely aware of that. How could they not be afraid of the negative impact it might have on Astra? And as you pointed out, it could very easily end up back firing on them one day.**_

 _ **Guest (6):**_ _ **If the Hatter's mother had been more like the Hatter, so much would be different. The Hatter would have had such a lovely childhood, free to run through the fields of her family home, free to play with her cousins and explore the world as only a child can. She would have been a lot more sure of herself growing up, not quite as naïve, I doubt that she would have put up with the Rani and the Master, but she would have still liked the Doctor and been friendly with him, just, I don't think quite as friendly as they were growing up. I feel like the Hatter formed such a deep, near instant connection with him because she was craving that from someone and he gave that to her immediately. Over all, she would have been a much happier person and very close to her mother, if things had been different.**_

 _ **Guest (7):**_ _ **I'm not sure if he is half-human, I know that they were alluding to it in the past with the movie and now with Hell Bent it seems possible, which is why I've tried to leave it open for the possibility of it being the case, though if by that point it still remains a mystery, I'll have to take it into my own hands and I already know what I'll do. I've already stated in this series that the Doctor's mother was half-human, but as for on the show…I really don't know. There's so much conflicting information, it's just so confusing. For a while there they were alluding to the Doctor being an ancient Time Lord, the Other, but how does that fit with him possibly being half-human? I'm just so confused over it; I really don't know what to believe anymore.**_

 _ **Guest (8):**_ _ **Well, as I said in the previous message above, I already have a plan in mind for the future in that regard, if nothing ends up being confirmed by then. And as for the Hatter…well, wait and see :)**_

 _ **Guest (9):**_ _ **I'm not sure what happened to the Doctor's family on Gallifrey, something clearly happened and he and Susan did seem rather upset when they explained that they had left their home planet, or that's what I felt watching the scene. I'm not sure if I believe that they died and only he and Susan survived, perhaps a family disagreement? Maybe the Doctor was trying to protect Susan from going down the same miserable path he had gone down? I really don't know, but something big must have happened.**_

 _ **Guest (10):**_ _ **I really liked the trailer, I am a bit concerned by how much pain the Doctor seems to be in, but she does seem to be rather cheerful and bright, which is something I like to see in my Doctors. Also, I love the idea of an older companion and some of the possible adventures look very interesting, one shot almost reminded me of Skaro during the Classic era with all the mist behind him, the rocks and gun strapped to his front, but I didn't think the Daleks would be making an appearance this season? Either way, I'm very excited for October 7**_ _ **th**_ _ **:)**_

 _ **Personally, I'm not sure what I'm hoping for, I feel like I need to get to know this Doctor first, I just hope that they do the show justice and not focus too much on the Doctor's gender change.**_

 _ **Guest (11):**_ _ **Actually, after reading your message, I went and tried writing that one-shot with the possible future Time Lady, so I plan to post it later. Thank you for the suggestion, please see the authors note for further information :)**_

 _ **Guest (12):**_ _ **Once I've finished writing the 'Three Doctors and Hatters,' I'm currently only up to the second chapter, but fingers crossed it's before the end of the year, but no promises. My school work has to come first and I only have three days a week to write, depending on what else I need to do and homework.**_

 _ **Guest (13):**_ _ **My favourite multi Doctor episodes are as follows:**_

 _ **The Day of the Doctor, I know a lot of people don't like it but I loved it for so many reasons.**_

 _ **Second, The Five Doctors.**_

 _ **Thirdly, Time Crash, though I know it's not technically an episode.**_

 _ **Fourthly, the Name of the Doctor. It counts, doesn't it? It featured appearances of all of the Doctors.**_

 _ **Fifthly, the Three Doctors.**_

 _ **Sixthly, the Two Doctors.**_

 _ **And lastly and with no surprise, Twice Upon a Time.**_


	13. Chapter 13 The Snowmen, Part 2

_**The Snowmen, Part 2**_

It was night time by the time the Doctor and the Hatter had made their way to the Darkover manor house, instantly finding the large, square, frozen over pond out the front of the house as a water feature for when guests arrived, no doubt, in the more warmer months of the year. Even in the darkness of the evening, the Time Lady could tell that whoever owned the house was very wealthy, in fact it reminded her somewhat of her family home, only not quite as large or grand, built from aged, grey stone and with vines twisting along one side of what seemed to be the entrance into the garden around the side of the house. In the darkness of the evening, it was rather imposing to have looming over you; it rather made her glade that Astra was with Max and Alice right now. She likely wouldn't have been overly fond of the house.

The Doctor instantly hopped up onto the stone ledge that went around the edge of the pond, offering the Hatter his hand, which she happily accepted and allowed him to help her step up onto the ledge, the bottom of her skirts just shy of brushing against the ice of the frozen pond. As they began to carefully moving around the edge, eyeing the ice, the Doctor retrieved his sonic screwdriver from his coat pocket, having done away with his Inverness coat and deerstalker hat, flashing the device at the ice.

"Body frozen in pond," he remarked, before flickering the sonic and lifting it up to his eyes, checking the results, "The snow gets a good long look at a human being, like a…full body scan".

"Providing them exactly what they needed to evolve," the Hatter nodded along with him, pausing in the middle of the ledge, peering down at the ice, "What a terrible way to die," she said sadly, shaking her head, "I do hope the children she was caring for didn't have to witness it".

The Doctor's expression soften, looking over to her, "I'm sure they didn't see it happen, dear," he said gently, moving around to stand beside her, wrapping an arm around her waist. He was lying, of course, he had no idea of if they had or hadn't witnessed the governesses' death, but he hated seeing that sad, concerned look on her face thinking about it.

"I do hope you're right," she murmured, allowing herself a moment longer with the less then pleasant thoughts before shaking her head, looking across to him, "Of course, what I really want to know is how Clara knew about this," she went on, sounding a bit more bright as she raised her eyebrows, "She passed the one word test, which was pond, but how did she know anything about the governess or this pond's relation to it? Unless…" she paused, slowly looking back over her shoulder towards the house, considering it briefly as the Doctor waited, knowing she worked best if she had a chance to collect her thoughts, "Unless she works here".

"Clara working here?" he blinked, frowning back over towards the house, "But…she's a barmaid, I can't imagine her getting work here. Maybe as a maid…"

"Hmm," she hummed thoughtfully, though she didn't look convinced. There was a strange, almost suspicious look in her eyes, as though she already suspected exactly what Clara might be doing working in a wealthy household like the one that obviously lived in the house behind them.

"Hatter," he eyed her closely, "What is it about this girl? You said you would explain, so…"

"I _will_ explain, just…not right now. It's complicated and painful; I'd rather not do it here. Please, sweetheart, I promise to try my best to explain what I understand, which is very limited, mind you, but you must be patient".

He almost laughed at that, giving her a look, because he was quite certain there was no one else in the Universe more patients then him. He had spent centuries plucking up the courage to tell her how he felt, reminding himself each and every day to be patient, not to rush it, that he'd tell her eventually, when the time was right. He was the King of Patients…which is yet another horrible title he will never, ever use again, even inside his own head.

Just then, the sound of heavy footsteps sounded on the gravel driveway and the Time Lords both looked up to see Strax suddenly come running towards them, looking rather eager and carrying his gun, which looked very odd against his black livery. He stopped on the other side of the pond from them, his back straight and his head held high, like a good solider awaiting orders. The Time Lords blinked at him in confusion and surprise.

"What are you doing here?" the Doctor demanded, frowning deeply at him. If he had to follow his own rule, he would do it happily, but only because it meant that he got to spend time with the Hatter…Strax wasn't exactly invited.

"Madam Vastra wondered if you were needing any grenades?" Strax asked them, saying it quite casually, as though it was a common thing that one might request.

The Hatter sighed slightly, "I'm quite certain Vastra didn't want to ask us that, Strax," she said lightly, giving him a pointed look. She did fined him to be a little exhausting to deal with; though no more so then Astra was when she refused to eat her vegetables. She supposed that having a Time Tot running about had made her more prepared to deal with Strax and his…ways. At time's she even found him to be rather amusing, though she didn't think the Doctor shared that sentiment.

Strax hesitated slightly, looking away from them briefly, "She might have said help".

"That sounds better," the brunet nodded, giving him a brief wary smile.

"Help for what?" the Doctor questioned, frowning at him again, "I've got the Hatter, what more help do I need?" he pulled the Hatter closer to his side, just to prove his point, while she rolled her eyes fondly.

"Well, your investigation…" Strax began, looking between them, smiling slightly.

"Investigation?" he cut across him, staring at him, as though he had never heard of such a thing before, "Who says I'm investigating?" the Hatter cleared her throat pointedly and gave him a look, making him shake his head, "Do you think I'm going to start investigating just because some bird smiles at me? Some bird who isn't my wife…"

The Hatter blinked, giving him a quick look, "Did you just refer to me as a _bird_ , Doctor?" she asked dangerously, narrowing her eyes.

"What…no, no!" he hastily said, almost yelping in alarm, seeing the coldness starting to seep into her eyes. Oh, no, he was in trouble now, "I would never say something like that about you, I…" he faulted under her glare, ducking his head as his voice grew higher, "I'm sorry, Hatter".

"You better be," she huffed, though she hadn't stepped away from him, his arm still around her waist.

He sighed heavily, taking the fact that she hadn't moved away from his touch to be a good sign that she wasn't that upset with him. He levelled Strax with a sharp look, "Look, who do you think I am?" he said, not liking the amused look on Strax's face, "I'm a married man, only one woman get's to order me around…"

The Hatter closed her eyes in exasperation, groaning, "Should have just kept your mouth shut, Doctor," she muttered, starting to feel embarrassed for him now, "You're seriously not doing yourself any favours".

Strax gave the Doctor a mocking little smirk, "But you're Sherlock Holmes".

The Doctor pointed at him sternly, thankful that it was so dark out and his blush was hidden, realising that his words from before really had sounded better in his head, "Don't be clever, Strax," he warned him, "It doesn't suit you".

"Sorry, sir," he replied, his voice flat and looking as though he was holding back an eye roll.

"We're the clever ones; you're the potato one…"

"Doctor," the Hatter scolded sharply, giving him a disapproving look that instantly made him wince and duck his head sheepishly. Poor Strax, while she could sympathise with his frustration at times with him, she didn't believe that being mean and bullying was ever okay. Teasing was different, if done with affection, as she always did with her friends, but the Doctor wasn't just doing a bit of harmless teasing right now. Strax, for all little annoyances, had proved to be very brave and selfless in the past, she felt he was owed some respect as a result of that.

The Doctor shifted slightly beneath her gaze, reaching up with his free hand to rub the back of his neck, "Sorry, dear," he muttered sheepishly.

She sighed heavily, allowing her gaze to linger a bit longer on him before turning back towards Strax, who looked as though he was struggling to hold back sniggers, "Thank you for your offer to help, Strax," she told him politely, "And do reassure Vastra and Jenny that we've got everything handled. I'm sure we can take things from here".

Strax nodded respectfully, smirking very slightly up at her, "Yes…Doctor Watson," he threw the Doctor a quick look, his eyes glimmering, "Mr Holmes," he turned and began to walk back down the driveway, laughing to himself while the Hatter smiled.

"Oi!" the Doctor called after him, "Shut up! You're not clever or funny and you've got tiny little legs. And you…!" he turned on the Time Lady, who was quietly giggling to herself, pointing at her, "Don't encourage him, Hatter!"

She rolled her eyes, "Oh, we are grumpy today," she cooed mockingly, before breaking into a wide smile, pressing a light kiss to his cheek as he pouted, Strax's sniggering still carrying back to them as he disappeared into the darkness, "I do hope you haven't lost your sense of humour, Doctor," she said, giving him a mock concerned look as she pulled back from him, "I don't know how this marriage is supposed to survive if you have".

"Oh, yeah?" he suddenly pulled her closer to him, moving his other arm around her waist as she grinned, winding her arms around his neck, "I can still take a joke, you know. Love a good joke, me…"

"Prove it".

His narrowed his eyes at her, while her grin turned into a little challenging smirk, instantly drawing his own gaze to her lips. He slowly began to lean forward, every intention of ensuring that this whole conversation was completely forgotten about in her mind…though, he thought that he might be pushing things a little bit when this was a woman with the best memory he'd ever come across. Sadly, however, he had barely touched her lips before movement out of the corner of his eye interrupted their moment, golden light suddenly bathing them. They looked back up to the house were the light was coming from, squinting slightly up to the very top window of the house, where Clara was peering out from between the curtains, staring down at them through the glass. After a brief moment, she lifted her hand and waved down at them, appearing to be wearing a blue and green dress with her hair pulled back very properly.

"She looks quite different, doesn't she?" the Hatter remarked, a almost sad little smile crossing her face as she untangled herself from the Doctor's embrace, wiggling her fingers up to Clara in a little wave, "Not so much of a barmaid now".

The Doctor waved back up to the girl, frowning very slightly, "Looks like you were right, dear," he said, shooting her a brief smile, "Like usual," Clara suddenly began gesturing for them to come up to her, looking hopefully down at them. He pointed to his own chest and back up to her, making her nod eagerly, "Um…" he wrapped an arm around the Hatter and pulled her around from the window, their backs to Clara as he looked to the Time Lady, "Let's just tell her we're leaving and not going up".

"Doctor," she shook her head, giving him a slight frown, "What if it's something important? What if she can help us stop the Intelligence?"

"No, we said we weren't going to do that anymore, Hatter," he said firmly, though he looked as though he was forcing himself to say the words, closing his eyes tightly before opening them again, his resolve set, " _Leaving_ ," he repeated, sounding stronger, "Not going up," he turned back around on his heel, guiding the Hatter back around as they looked back up to Clara. He held his hand up, telling her to give them five minutes before giving her a quick thumbs up, giving her a smile as Clara nodded and closed the curtains, just before he groaned and whacked himself in the head.

The Hatter laughed, looking highly amused as she watched him glare at his hand as though it had personally insulted him, "So much for not going up, sweetheart," she grinned cheekily.

He huffed in annoyance, "What was that about?" he scolded his traitorous hand, "Five minutes, where did that come from? You…" he pointed at his hand before actually biting his thumb.

"Stop that," the Time Lady grabbed his arm, pulling it away from his mouth as he winced, "You'll end up hurting yourself. Now, come on," she hopped down off the ponds ledge, tugging him down with her, smiling, "Clara will be waiting".

The Doctor sighed loudly, grumbling something to low for her to hear as she linked her arm through his and began to pull him towards the house, wondering if they might be able to use the garden door to get inside, when a faint cracking noise behind her made her footsteps falter. That had sounded like ice cracking to her ears, making her throw a quick look back to the pond. A long night indeed.

….…

The Hatter settled herself comfortably on the floor of the room that the children of the household used for their school lessons, the room rather dark without any lighting on and a bit chilly with the fire out, seeping through the thick fabric of her dress as she calmly reclined back, one hand on the rug behind her to keep her upright, while her legs were stretched out before her, ankles crossed. She'd had quite a bit of fun grabbing all of the toys and dolls around the room, sitting them on the floor around her in a semi-circle, facing the large, wooden puppet theatre set up in the room, while the Doctor hid behind the closed red curtain. She could hear the sound of shouts coming from the adjourning room, just as the wooden door flew open and two young children burst into the room, dressed in their night things, the girl appearing to be in her early pre-teens while the boy seemed to be a few years younger. Clara followed behind them, whirling around in a flurry of dark blue and green dress to swiftly close the door behind them. None of them seemed to notice the Time Lady, who looked over her shoulder, watching curiously.

"What do we do?" the boy cried, backing away from the door, looking quite frightened. The Time Lady winced at the sight.

Clara spun back around, her eyes falling on the young girl, "Frannie," she said urgently, hurrying over to the fair haired girl, reaching out to grab her shoulders, bending down slightly so that they were eyelevel, "Frannie, imagine 'er melting".

"What?" the girl gasped, her eyes wide as the sound of loud growling came from behind the closed door.

"In your 'ead. Melt 'er!"

"I can't!"

"I'm getting impatient!" a very strict, older woman's voice sounded from behind the closed door, just before the door flew open and a woman made from ice stepped into the room, looking like a very oversized ice sculpture of a Victorian lady. Clara quickly threw herself protectively in front of the children, who gasped in fear as the ice woman pointed a stern finger at them, "You have been very naughty!"

The Hatter sat up straight and gripped her skirts tightly, looking hurriedly between the terrified children and the ice woman, every instinct inside of her telling her to grab the children and Clara, and get them to safety away from the stature. But this was going to plan, she knew what they were doing…it still didn't stop her from wanting to jump up and place herself in front of Clara and the children, however. She couldn't stand the sight of a frightened child, her hearts racing in her chest as her grip on her skirts grew so tight, she was amazed she hadn't torn the fabric yet.

"What about the man and lady?" the boy asked frantically, gripping Clara's arm tightly, "You said the man and his wife were here, the cloud man and lady!"

"Well, they're not, are they?" Clara said quickly, staring at the ice woman with wide eyes, still trying to shield the children.

"Where's the Doctor and the Hatter?"

"I don't know!"

"Hello!" the Hatter called brightly, making the children and Clara gasp, jumping as their heads snapped around to where she was still sitting casually on the floor, toys around her. She relaxed her grip on her skirts and wiggled her slightly aching fingers at them, smiling at their startled expressions, "You're just in time," she continued, "The shows about to start and I really do think you'll enjoy it," she gave them a little wink and turned back to look at the puppet theatre, wishing Astra was here to watch this. She would love it.

The curtains over the little stage of the theatre opened and a Punch puppet popped up suddenly, making Clara and the children jump again, "Doctor?" a squeaky voice came from beneath the stage, out of view as the Hatter grinned, "Hatter?" the puppet gave a wicked laugh and rubbed it's wooden hands together, "Doctor and Hatter who?"

Suddenly, the puppet ducked down and when it popped up again, it was holding the sonic screwdriver between its hands, flashing it in the direction of the ice woman. The ice woman came to a stop in the middle of the room as the Hatter jumped up, moving to stand in front of Clara and the children, just in case they truly had miscalculated and something went wrong, which seemed likely with their luck. Thankfully, it seemed to be working as the ice woman seemed to become stuck to the floor and a loud creaking noise began to fill the room as she gave a growl of anger, just before she shattered in a blast of ice.

"Duck!" the Hatter cried, closing her eyes and throwing her arms out, trying her best to take the worst of the ice crystals that went flying, Frannie giving a yelp as she and her brother ducked behind Clara. The Time Lady opened her eyes and quickly looked back to Clara and the children, wanting to make sure they were okay, "It's okay," she reassured them hurriedly, reaching out to grasp Clara's arm, giving her and the kids a brief smile, "Everything's going to be just fine".

The Doctor popped up from beneath the stage, grinning with the puppet still in his hand, "That's the way to do it," he laughed in the Punch's voice, clapping the puppet's hands before Punch turned and kissed him, making his eyes widen and the Hatter blink, giving him a very strange look as he pulled the puppet off his face, "Oi!" he yelped, giving the puppet a stern glare, "I'm a married man, I have you know…"

"Doctor…" the Time Lady eyed him closely, looking mildly concerned for his mental health, "I think these hand shenanigans are getting a little out of control…" she paused as Clara and the Doctor both looked at her, even Punch had turned in her direction, making her grimace and close her eyes, "That sounded a _lot_ less dirty in my head, I promise".

The Doctor laughed, unable to help himself as he noticed the blush creeping up her neck from beneath her high collar, crossing over her cheeks. He dropped the puppet and slipped out the curtained back of the puppet theatre, moving around to join the Time Lady, who seemed to be trying to put her little slip behind her as she knelt on the floor by the puddle that had once been the ice woman, now seeping through the very old and expensive looking rug. He flashed his sonic over the wet patch, frowning slightly.

"Where did she go?" Frannie asked worriedly, watching the Time Lords as Clara stood beside her, "Will she come back?"

"No, don't worry," the Doctor told her gently, looking back over his shoulder to her, giving her a quick, comforting smile. Fatherhood truly had softened him even more, he found it even more impossible to ignore a child in distress now, not that he'd been able to do so before Astra had come along. He turned back to his sonic screwdriver as it finished scanning the wet patch of rug, checking the results, "She's currently draining through your carpet".

"We figured it might be wise to update the sonic screwdriver," the Hatter commented, straightening as she looked back to Clara and Frannie, while the Doctor also rose from his crouch, "It's a new setting we designed, we've dubbed it 'Anti-Freeze,'" she shrugged slightly, not seeming to notice that Clara and the young girl was looking blankly at her, "Still working on the wood setting, of course, but it's proving to be a bit tricky, even for me…" she trailed off with a sigh, shaking her head sadly.

The Doctor glanced sideways at the brunet, looking highly amused by her rambling and rather disappointed expression; she had been taking her failure of being able to make the sonic work on wood almost like a personal insult, though he kept reassuring her that if anyone could make it work, she could. Engineering had always been her expertise, after all, it was one of the only things that seemed to actually truly injure her pride if she failed or struggled with it, since she had always been a natural at it. He pulled his gaze off the side of her face and instead looked back over to Clara, eyeing her.

"You're very welcome, by the way," he said pointedly to her, tossing the sonic in the air and catching it again, one handed.

"I'm very grateful," Clara replied, looking between the Time Lords with a knowing look, breaking into a faint smile. Her accent was more refined now, making her voice slightly softer, far more familiar to the Time Lady now, "I knew you'd come".

"No, you didn't," he gave her a hard, almost cross look as he slipped the sonic back inside his pocket, his mood shifting so fast it was amazing he didn't get a sore neck, "Because I don't…" he moved swiftly passed her without glancing her way, crossing the room as he continued to speak, the Hatter watching him with sharp eyes, "Because this isn't the sort of thing I do any more. Next time you're in trouble, don't expect us…me to…" he suddenly stopped, catching sight of his own reflection in the large mirror hanging on the wall, staring at it, his reflection glaring back at him with a hard, angry look that startled him to see it on his face.

Was that how he had been looking for all these months? Was this what the Hatter had been so concerned about? He saw it now, he understood her fear and concern, because this man staring back at him, his green eyes cold and so very ancient, his mouth drawn in a harsh line that made his entire face look closed off and intimidating, this wasn't the man he had ever wanted to be. This man staring back at him was not the man who deserved to be married to a woman like the Hatter, who deserved to be a father to Astra, this was a man incapable of truly being the man either of his girls deserved because he was simply so angry with the Universe, so caught up in his own frustration and rage that he was unable to see what the Hatter had been trying so desperately to make him see. He had thought that it was better this way, that he could devote himself to his wife and daughter if he closed himself off from the rest of the Universe, but the truth was that in doing so, he had closed off the person that deserved them most of all, he could be with them more completely then he could be right now while he raged and grieved at the Universe for the wrongs against him.

This was not the person he wanted to be, the person he wanted his daughter to be raised by. Never had he turned his back on those who needed help, never had he scorned and scoffed others merely trying to help him as he had the past eight months, it wasn't him and he felt ashamed of himself. This was not the way he wanted his daughter to grow up, believing that the way he had been acting the last eight months was okay, he wanted so much more for her then that, to teach her to help others and never give up, to keep her head high and be strong, but he hadn't been strong these past eight months, he'd been weak and angry and a mere farce of the Doctor. And the Hatter…this wasn't the man she had fallen for and married, not the man she deserved, but he could be…he so terribly _wanted_ to be again, for his girls and himself.

"What is it?" Clara asked quickly, frowning at him, but the Doctor sighed and hung his head, not answering, "What's wrong?"

He didn't respond at first, squeezing his eyes shut against his own reflection, feeling shame washing over him. Soft, cool fingers suddenly entwined with his own and his eyes snapped open, his head turning to find the Hatter standing next to him, her expression soft as she gave him a gentle smile that instantly warmed his hearts. He could always count on her to be his rock, always count on his Hatter to be there to give him one of her smiles when he needed it most, even if he might not have deserved it.

"I'm sorry," he told her softly, squeezing her hand as he turned his body to face her properly, "All these months…the way I've been acting, Hatter…"

"Shh," she hushed him, the softness and understanding in her eyes enough to make him want to throw his arms around her and never let her go, "You have nothing to apologise to me for," she went on, "Losing Amy and Rory broke your hearts, sweetheart, just as it did mine. We just handled it differently".

"But the way I've been behaving, angry and bitter. That _isn't_ me, Hatter; I don't _ever_ want it to be _me_ ".

"And it's _not_ , Doctor," she said firmly, suddenly looking fiercely determined, gripping his hand tighter than before, "We may lose ourselves for a time and make mistakes, but if we can still find ourselves again, even if it takes a eight months or an entire century, we never truly lose ourselves. If you don't believe me, take another look in the mirror," she nodded back to the mirror, giving him a small smile, as though she knew something he didn't, which would hardly be surprising.

The Doctor gave her a slightly puzzled look, but he still complied with her wish, turning back towards the mirror. His own reflection stared back at him, frowning vaguely with confusion now, just as she reached up to unwind his dark blue scarf from around his neck, revealing the bowtie he had somehow managed to put on without even noticing. His eyes fixed on the tie, startled at the sight as he slowly reached up to straighten it, the gesture feeling so alien and yet familiar. He hadn't so much as touched a bowtie since Amy and Rory had been taken from them, but…here it was.

"There we go," the Hatter smiled at his reflection, peering over his shoulder, "You've found yourself again, sweetheart".

Slowly, he blinked, staring at his bowtie, "I didn't know I'd put it on…" he said slowly, still looking rather shocked.

She pressed a kiss to his cheek, grinning proudly as she stepped back, "Old habits die hard," she remarked brightly, earning a faint smile from him.

"It's cooler," Clara spoke from behind them. The Hatter actually flinched slightly, looking back over her shoulder to find the young woman frowning slightly, looking around the room, having almost entirely forgotten all about Clara and the two children currently within the darkened school room with them.

The Doctor's smile grew wider, looking admiringly back to the mirror, "Yeah, it is, isn't it?" he said happily, "It is very cool," he straightened his bowtie again, before tugging at his long, tweed coat, "Bowties _are_ cool".

"I don't think that's what she meant, Doctor," the Hatter informed him, frowning as she eyed the frosted window, watching flecks of snow whizzing past outside. She could feel her fingers starting to grow a little numb and her cheeks certainly did feel cooler than before, "It's the room," she said slowly, suddenly feeling very alert, "The temperatures dropped rapidly, which makes me rather concerned that…"

She didn't even have the chance to finish her words when her eyes widened, catching sight of a lump starting to form beneath the rug, right where the ice woman had been standing when she had been destroyed. Oh, dear, this really wasn't very good, made all the more worse by the fact that the bulge was growing at an alarming rate.

"She's coming back!" the young boy cried fearfully, while his sister gasped loudly, everyone turning to look.

"What's she going to do?" the girl asked frantically, edging closer to Clara, while the Doctor rushed towards the growing bulge, flashing his sonic screwdriver at it, "Is she going to punish me?"

"No, of course not," the Hatter told her quickly, giving her an overly wide smile, trying to look as reassuring as possible. She wasn't sure how successful it turned out, however, her own hearts racing in her chest, just wishing to get the two children and Clara out of the school room as soon as possible, ideally somewhere far away from the house, if possible. She moved to the Doctor's side, looking between the bulging rug and him, whacking his sonic screwdriver against his hand, "Doctor?"

"Er…" the Doctor glanced at her, grimacing slightly, "Er…she's learnt not to melt," he stopped trying to scan the lump and grabbed the Time Lady's hand, pulling her along with him as they moved over to where Clara and the children stood together, "Of course, she's not really a governess, she's a beast," he looked at the young girl as the Hatter tried to look as calm as possible, "She's going to eat you…ouch!"

The Hatter gave him a sharp look, having just smacked his shoulder, before turning to the children, "Ignore him," she said gently, dropping his hand to instead take the young boy and girl's hands, "He's being an idiot, but we really ought to be running now. Come on!"

She turned on her heel and pulled the children along with her towards the door, which she desperately hoped wasn't a cupboard, which would have been rather embarrassing. Thankfully, her idea worked out well and she ushered the children ahead of her and out onto a darkened landing, the floorboards beneath the carpet creaking as they ran for the top of the stairs. The Doctor followed right on the Time Lady's heels, grabbing her hand as the children took off ahead of them all, Clara hurrying behind them with her hands holding her skirts just above her feet. Their feet thundered on the stairs as they scurried down them, turning a corner, just in time to find themselves overlooking the entrance hall one length of stairs below. A tall, dark haired man dressed in a finely tailored suit appeared from out of one of the downstairs rooms at the bottom of the stairs, looking quite cross.

"Children, what is the expla…" he stopped short at the sight of the Doctor and the Hatter following behind his children, his eyes narrowing, "Who the devil are you?" he demanded, "What are you doing in my house?"

"It's okay," the Doctor began brightly, holding up his hands, "We are…"

"Hello!" the Hatter hurriedly cut in, flashing the man a warm smile, thinking that it might be best if she did the talking for this one. Knowing the Doctor, he'd make it sound like something odd was going on, not that she would probably make it sound any better, if she was being honest, "Don't mind us, we were just…visiting my niece _here_ …" she pointedly reached out to pull Clara into a one armed hug, making the rather confused woman blink, though the Time Lady continued to smile at the man, hoping it didn't look to strained, "Bit late, I know, but…well, it _is_ Christmas Eve".

"Captain Latimer!" a darked haired maid suddenly rushed into the room, looking quite distressed, just as the doorbell began ringing, "In the garden, there's snowmen! And they're just growing out of nowhere, all by themselves! Look!"

She dashed passed them all, Latimer looking rather confused; as she moved to throw the front door open, revealing Vastra and Jenny standing on the doorstep, their arms interlocked and Vastra's face uncovered. The Hatter probably would have giggled, had the situation not been quite so serious.

"Good evening," Vastra greeted the maid politely, looking completely calm, while behind them more snowmen popped up of their own accord in the front garden, "I'm a lizard woman from the Dawn of Time, and this is my wife…" she nodded very slightly to Jenny beside her, who smiled back at the maid.

There was a brief moment of silence, before…the maid let out an ear piercing scream and ran back into the entrance hall, looking rather pale. She didn't get far, as she only made it back to the bottom of the stairs before Strax stepped directly into her path, having apparently slipped in through the back door.

"This dwelling is under attack," he informed her, his tone rather harsh and commanding, his armour uncovered, "Remain calm, human scum".

"Seriously?" the Hatter sighed in exasperation, feeling rather bad for the stunned looking humans. Vastra and her little gang were hardly subtle, though she supposed that she and the Doctor hardly had room to judge on that score.

The poor maid took one look at Strax and immediately began hysterically screaming again, before collapsing in a heap on the tiled floor in a dead faint. The Hatter winced and exchanged a quick look with the Doctor, before moving down the last few stairs, the Time Lady quickly crouching next to the maid, checking her pulse. The way she had been screaming, the poor woman might have suffered a cardiac arrest, Captain Latimer, however, seemed to be handling things a bit better, though he did look rather dazed.

"So," the Doctor turned to the man, giving him a friendly smile as he lightly slapped his shoulder, "Any questions?"

Latimer slowly looked at him in complete disbelief, before glancing behind him to where Clara was standing on the stairs still with the children, "You're related to these… _people_?" he shot the Time Lady a quick look, which seemed just a tad insulting.

The Time Lady smiled brightly at him, accepting the Doctor's offered hand to help her up, "Distantly," she said lightly, before Clara had a chance to say anything. She lightly pattered the man's arm, feeling rather sorry for the obviously overwhelmed man, before she and the Doctor moved to peer out one of the windows, taking note of the snowmen still popping up outside, looking more like a small army, "Right, Vastra," she frowned, her focus still fixed on the window, "What can you tell us?"

"The snow is highly localised," Vastra said as she moved to join them by the window, pulling her cloak off and tossing it aside as she did so, "And on this occasion, not naturally occurring".

"It's coming out of that cab parked by the gate," Jenny added, moving to stand next to her wife. The Time Lords exchanged a quick look, turning away from the window.

"Sir, ma'am," Strax stepped forward, gaining their attention, "One pulver grenade would blow these snowmen to smithereens".

The Doctor shook his head in exasperation, giving Strax a look, "They're made of snow, Strax," he reminded him; his teeth gritted slightly, "They're _already_ smithereens".

"But thank you for trying to help," the Hatter cut in, giving Strax a strained smile, which was more like a pained grimace. Strax really wasn't the brightest and if matters weren't quite so serous right now, she thought she probably would have gotten a good laugh out of some of the things he came out with.

The Doctor took the Hatter's hand, looking back up the stairs to Clara, who was watching over the banister, "See, Clara?" he called up to her, his expression grim, "Our friends again".

"Clara?" Latimer repeated, frowning in puzzlement, casting Clara a quick look, "Who's Clara?"

"Your current governess is, in reality, a former barmaid called Clara," the Doctor informed him casually, just as Clara opened her mouth to try and reply. Latimer quickly looked back over to her as she awkwardly smiled at him, her finger still held up in the air.

"That's the way to do it!" the ice woman's shrill voice called from somewhere up the stairs, having apparently fully reformed and now following them down the stairs, hopefully quite slowly.

"And that would be your previous governess," the Hatter commented, grimacing slightly as she looked up the stairs, feeling the temperature in the entrance hall slowly starting to drop with every step closer to them the ice woman came. She was so happy she hadn't brought Astra along with them for this, giving Latimer a strained smile, "I'm afraid that she's currently a living ice stature created from the water within the pond that she so very sadly died in last winter…Oh, and she also seems to be impersonating Mr Punch, which would be rather amusing, if it wasn't so horrific to think about".

The ice woman appeared at the top of the stairs, making Latimer gape in shock at the sight. The Time Lady eyed her closely.

"Jenny," the Doctor watched the ice woman, "What have you got?"

Jenny flashed him and the Hatter a brief smile, fishing a small glowing red device from out of her dress pocket, holding it up for them to see, before throwing it up the stairs. A low thrumming noise sounded, just as a red force field came up around the top of the stairs, preventing the ice woman from being able to continue down the stairs to them.

"That should hold it," she said, just as the ice woman ran into the force field, causing her to scream in anger at being blocked.

"Well done, Jenny," the Hatter grinned, holding her hand up for her to high-five it, which Jenny happily did without blinking, quite used to her antics.

"Sir, ma'am," Strax called suddenly, drawing their attention. He was standing outside the doorway of the room Captain Latimer had first stepped out from, "This room. One observational window on the line of attack and one defendable entrance".

"Right, everyone in there," the Doctor ordered the humans, pointing over to the rooms doorway, "Now. Move it. You…" he glanced at Latimer, who looked quite taken aback by the fact that someone was ordering him around in his own home, "Carry her," he nodded down to the still unconscious maid still lying at the base of the stairs.

Latimer blinked slowly, before he glanced at Clara, who was busy ushering the children over to the room. One look at her and he finally got into action, bending down to help the maid up from the floor, carrying her over to the room that Clara had just disappeared inside with the children. The Hatter watched them curiously, noting that Captain Latimer did seem to spend quite a bit of time looking at Clara when he thought no one else was watching, which was rather telling…blimey, if only she had been so aware with her own romantic life.

Vastra remained behind, leaning against the end of the banister, smirking at the Time Lords, "Nice to see you both off your cloud and engaging again," she remarked, watching as the Doctor turned to flash his sonic screwdriver up the stairs at the ice woman, while the Time Lady frowned.

"We're not engaging again," the Doctor replied, not even looking back to her, "We're under attack".

The Hatter barely held back a laugh, giving Vastra a pointed look over her shoulder, neither woman fooled for a second. It felt like the old days again, as if all those months of hiding away in the sky above Victorian London hadn't happened, they were just on another adventure, trying to help people and keep the Earth, if not the Universe, safe from whatever new threat was being posed against it. It was a wonderful feeling.

"You missed this, didn't you?" Vastra commented knowingly, her smirk returning.

He looked back over his shoulder to her, his eyes flickering over to the Hatter, who was smiling at him, just as knowingly and smugly as Vastra, which was just annoying and made him want to wipe the look off her face with a kiss…or two, "Shut up," he muttered, though even he couldn't stop himself from smiling faintly.

The Hatter laughed, kissing his cheek, "Never, sweetheart," she said brightly, completely ignoring the ice woman's angry shouting as she continued slamming into the force field. She grabbed his hand and winked at Vastra, leading the way down the last few stairs and across to the room that everyone had gathered in, which appeared to be a wood panelled study, "Right, Strax," she called as they strolled inside the room, finding Strax standing by the rather large, handsome wooden desk, "What have you got for us thus far?"

"They're not going to attack," Strax said at once, while the Hatter perched herself on the edge of the desk, crossing her ankles together, inches off the floor, only just resisting the urge to swing them like a child. She was trying to seem a little bit professional, "They made no attempt to conceal their arrival," he went on, "An attack force would never abandon surprise so easily, and they're clearly in a defence formation".

The Doctor grinned at him, "Way, aye, aye," he wrapped his arm around him and rubbed his knuckles affectionately against the top of his bold head, making the Hatter smile at the sight, "Well done, Straxie. Still got it, buddy," he kissed the top of his head, only to grimace and stick his tongue out, releasing Strax, setting the Hatter off into giggles that she quickly tried to cover up with her hand.

"Sir," Strax muttered, almost embarrassed, "Please do not noogie me during combat prep".

"So there's something here they want," Vastra spoke up, trying to get the subject back on track and the Time Lords attention back where it ought to be, which wasn't pulling faces or giggling guiltily like the Time Lady currently was trying to hide.

"Three guesses what," the Time Lady said, clearing her throat as she noticed the slightly stern expression Vastra had been giving them. Blimey, she felt almost as though she was back in school, getting scolded by one of her professors for sniggering with the Doctor…which she _never_ did, of course.

"The ice woman," Clara realised, rising from where she had been crouching before the children off to the side of the room.

The Doctor nodded, exchanging a grim look with the Hatter, "Exactly".

"Why's she so important?" Jenny asked, frowning as she looked to the Time Lords.

"They're after her DNA," the Hatter explained, slipping off the edge of the desk to stand properly, feeling that she ought to at least look as though she was taking this as seriously as she truly was. Sitting on the edge of a desk with her ankles laced like a six year old probably didn't give her the appearance of someone taking matters seriously, "They need a template of human DNA in ice crystal form and the governess is a perfect example of that, a fusion of snow and humanity, if you will".

"To live here, the snow needs to evolve and she's the blueprint," the Doctor added, snaking his arm around the Hatter's waist as he spoke, "She's what they need to become. When the snow melted last night, did the pond?" he clicked his fingers at Clara, waiting for her to answer.

"No," Clara shook her head.

"The process had already began, then," the Hatter said thoughtfully, looking slightly concerned now, "The imprint of the governess is ice that will never melt," she looked at the Doctor, biting her lip, "And that's how they'll make more of them, by getting the imprint of the previous governess, they will have _everything_ they need to build an entire army of ice. Humanity _will_ fall if we allow that to happen".

"We won't let that happen," the Doctor said firmly, meeting her eyes.

She smiled at the sheer look of determination in his eyes, because it was just so him. She'd missed that look the past eight months, "Let's give them hell, then, sweetheart," she said, perhaps a little cheerful for the context of the conversation they were having.

His eyes brightened and he almost seemed to be leaning towards her, when the door bell chimed loudly outside in the hallway. Everyone tensed and looked towards the Time Lords, who exchanged a look, "Stay here," he ordered the others, before dropping his arm from around the Hatter's waist and slipping his hand into hers.

They slipped out of the study and glanced up the stairs, just to make sure that the ice woman was still being kept at bay at the stop of the stairs, finding her still furiously trying to break through as she growled in frustration. That was one bit of good news, but they had barely had the chance to move towards the front door, when the door of the study swung open behind them and Clara joined them, letting the door snap closed behind her.

"Oi!" the Doctor whirled around on his heel to face her, frowning, "I told you to stay in there".

"Oh, I didn't listen," she shrugged carelessly, giving him a hint of a cheeky smile. The Hatter almost smiled, _almost_.

He narrowed his eyes, glancing at the Hatter, "She sounds like _you_ ," he almost huffed, feeling almost as though he was facing a human version of the Hatter now, which was rather disconcerting.

The Hatter grinned, "Problem, sweetheart?" she mock cooed, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Oh, so now you're going to take her side? How is _that_ fair?"

"Don't mind him, Clara," the Hatter turned to the girl, smiling brightly and completely unconcerned. She even mock leaned closer to her, as though she was telling her a secret, "He just likes to moan about the obvious. I find that humouring him usually shuts him up for a while".

"Oi! Standing right here, Hatter!"

Clara laughed, her brown eyes lighting up in delight, "Are you always this cheeky?"

The Hatter pretended to think about it, before breaking into a grin, "Oh, probably more so, if I'm being honest," she informed her lightly, glancing at the Doctor, "But I wouldn't want to make my husband blush _too_ much in front of almost strangers. I'm not quite that cruel," she winked at her, before pressing a quick kiss to the Doctor's cheek as he pouted, looking as though he was very seriously regretting ever allowing Clara and the Hatter in the same room together.

The front doorbell chimed again, sounding even more piercing and annoying outside in the hallway then it had in the study.

"Have you finished ganging up on me?" the Doctor huffed, looking between both brunets with mock annoyance. The Hatter knew he wasn't really upset, he was probably feeling almost as entertained as she was, but he would never admit it when they were teasing him, "Or do you want another few minutes? It's not as if we're trying to protect humanity from being destroyed by an ice army of snowmen…"

"Come on," the Hatter cut across him, grabbing his hand again, tugging him off down the hallway to the front door, "Let's save the world, again, though it does sound rather arrogant saying it like that…" she trailed off as she grabbed the door handle and threw it open, not allowing the Doctor the protest against wishing to open it first.

Doctor Simeon stood on the doorstep, glaring at them as two snowmen slowly grew from the snow just behind him, flanking him like a couple of menacing, icy bodyguards. The Hatter couldn't say she was impressed, looking back coolly as Clara came to a stop behind her and the Doctor.

"Release her to us," Simeon order them, his tone just as emotionless as always, but there was a distinct hint of threat coming off him now, "You have five minutes," he turned and walked away.

"And I thought _we_ were dramatic," the Time Lady muttered to the Doctor, watching Simeon stiffly walk away into the snow. She closed the door, exchanging a look with the Doctor, moving back into the house, their eyes moving up to rest on the ice woman still trying to fight against the force field.

"We need to get her out of here, but keep her away from them," the Doctor said grimly, pointing his finger back over his shoulder towards the door.

"How?" Clara asked instantly, trailing behind them.

He flashed the Hatter a grin as he came to a stop beside an umbrella stand, plucking one out, "With this…" he spun around on his heel, holding the umbrella up for them to see. He even winked at the Hatter, who laughed at his cheek, which really was rather adorable to her. He lifted an eyebrow at Clara, "Do I always have to state the obvious?"

"Those creatures outside," Latimer said suddenly, drawing their attention to him. Apparently he had stepped out of the study while they had been busy answering the door, frowning deeply as he looked between Clara and the Doctor, "What are they?"

"They're not here for you or your children," the Hatter reassured him quickly, giving him a gentle, soothing smile as his eyes snapped over to her, "They're after the…creature…" she pointed up to the ice woman, trying to find a way to best explain to him without confusing him further, which was no simple task, "But for now, I really must insist that you remain inside the study with your children," she nodded back to the door behind him, "They may not be here to harm you, but if you get in their way, they will not hesitate, so it truly is for the best that you allow us to do our job".

Latimer lingered outside the door, even as the Hatter gave him one last encouraging nod towards the door, not missing the way his eyes tracked Clara's every movement. In love with his own governess, who was actually a barmaid moonlighting as a governess…or was it the other way around? Personally, the Hatter really was rather curious to know how all that worked. But for now, she didn't have time to dwell on it, turning in a swirl of dark blue skirts to follow after the Doctor as he moved up the stairs, flashing his sonic screwdriver at the force field, causing the ice woman to scream in anger and lash out again.

"What are you doing?" Clara questioned, looking quite alarmed and confused.

"Between the three of us, I can't wait to find out!" the Doctor called over the ice woman's screeching, grinning widely. He truly did look as though he was having a great time, which only made the Hatter smile at the sight, having missed it so much. He caught her eye and his smile softened very slightly, before clearing his throat and returning his attention onto the force field. It shimmered red for a moment and dropped, before the air surrounding them shimmered the same way, bringing them under the newly expanded force field, "Right, Clara," he took the Hatter's hand, "If you look after everyone here, then we can…"

"Clara," the Hatter said sharply, her eyes widening as she caught sight of Clara standing just on the step below them, smiling happily, perfectly well aware of the fact that she had just purposely gotten herself stuck within the force field. She hadn't even seen her move!

"Hatter," Clara said calmly back, still looking rather pleased with herself.

"Duck!" the Doctor suddenly shouted, and the Hatter automatically did as he said, just as she felt the icy wind of the ice woman's arm pass inches from her face. They didn't wait for the ice woman to recover from her awkward swing, ducking under her failing arms and dashing up the stairs, "That was stupid, Clara!" he said loudly over his shoulder, not slowing their pace for a second.

"You two were stupid, too!"

"We're allowed!"

"It's called being idiots!" the Hatter informed her, inwardly cursing her many skirts and corset, wincing as it slowed her usual pace. She tripped on the edge of one of the stairs and would have suffered a nasty fall, had the Doctor not been holding her hand.

"That's the way to do it!" the ice woman called, mimicking Punches voices. She was still following after them, moving with horrible jerky movements as she climbed, though it thankfully slowed her pace.

Clara looked back at the ice woman, keeping right on the Time Lords heels, "Why does she keep saying that?" she asked, sounding exasperated.

"Mirroring," the Doctor replied hurriedly, suddenly stopping at the top of the stairs, looking back down at the ice woman, very quickly gaining on them, "Random mirroring…!"

"Don't stop!" the Hatter shouted at him, giving his arm a sharp tug, just as the ice woman reached their landing, "We need to get to the roof!"

"This way!" Clara called, grabbing the Hatter's free hand and pulling her off down the hallway, forcing both Time Lords onwards, given that they were still holding hands themselves. They tripped and stumbled their way down the hallway, rushing past paintings and pottered plants, "There!" she pointed to the window directly ahead of them.

The Hatter untangled her hands from Clara and the Doctor, dashing ahead to grab the windows handle, desperately hoping it wouldn't be locked. Thankfully, it clicked open and she climbed up onto the small windowsill, pushing her way through the rather tight window, given the fact that her skirts made things rather difficult. This is exactly why she hated Victorian dresses; she was so going to have to find a creative way to get back at the Doctor for this one.

"Give me a push!" she said over her shoulder, just as her damn bustle managed to get stuck. Someone, more than likely Clara, since the Hatter imagined that the Doctor would make far more of a fuss of pushing her, gave her a sharp shove forward and she barely managed to keep herself from falling face first onto the snow covered, small portion of flat roofing that the window had opened up onto. She whirled around, flecks of snow drifting down and catching in her hair and hat, just as the Doctor climbed out, followed by Clara, who suddenly came to a stop halfway through the window.

"Come on, quickly!" the Doctor shouted urgently, only to spin around on his heel, catching sight of Clara still in the window, grimacing, "What are you doing?"

"Her bustles stuck," the Hatter hurried forward, grabbing Clara's hand, "Take her other hand, Doctor!"

He blinked, looking rather surprised, though he still moved to take Clara's right hand, "Your bustles stuck?" he shook his head, realising now why the Hatter had needed a push, he had just assumed her skirts had gotten in the way, again. Together, the Time Lords pulled Clara through the window, only to end up pulling her right on top of them both as they toppled over in the snow, the roof beneath them quite slippery, landing on their backs. He instantly tensed with Clara half top of him; while the Hatter gave a loud groan next to him, Clara having accidently elbowed her stomach, "You're both going to have to take those clothes off".

Clara gasped and the Hatter blinked, her head snapping in his direction, caught between disbelief and cackling with laughter. His eyes widened in horror, looking between both women.

"I didn't mean…"

"I know," Clara said quickly, scrambling off both Time Lords.

"I just…"

"I understand, I do".

"Good. Hatter…?"

The Hatter uncovered her mouth, having been silently laughing to herself and looked back over to the Doctor, snow falling onto their cheeks, "Perfectly innocent, I'm sure, sweetheart," she nodded, her voice shaking with suppressed giggles.

"Hatter!" he exclaimed, sitting up hurriedly, his eyes widening again in horror, "I _never_ …"

"Oh, calm down," she rolled her eyes, pushing herself upright, leaning against one hand in the snow, "We _know_ , sounded less dirty in your head. Blimey, it's no fun teasing you if you look like you're about to have a stroke".

"Oh…" he almost visibly relaxed, relief crossing his face. He gave her a small smile and leaped onto his feet, offering her his hand up, which she happily accepted with a fond look and allowed him to pull her up onto her feet, his fingers entwining with hers, "By the way, dear…" he leaned closer towards her, acting as though he was brushing snow off her hat, "Sorry about the dress".

The Time Lady narrowed her eyes, "Don't think that's saved you from my pay back, Doctor," she whispered back, not about to forget about how much he seemed to have enjoyed her having to wear a damn corset the past eight months every time she left the TARDIS. She was not ready to forgive him, not at all.

"Okay," Clara said from where she was peering nervously back through the window for the ice woman. The Doctor cleared his throat and reluctantly turned his gaze onto Clara as she turned to look at them, "Now, what's the plan?"

"Who said we've got a plan?" the Doctor raised his eyebrows, mock innocent.

"Course you've got a plan," she said at once, making the Time Lady smile, "You took this," she reached down and plucked the umbrella up from where it had fallen onto the ground, wiggling it at them, before chucking it at the Doctor to catch.

"Perhaps he just took a fancy to it," the Hatter commented lightly, smirking at the Doctor, who huffed, pretending to be offended, "Besides, that's what fools do; we don't need to _always_ have a reason".

"You're not fools," she pointed at the, narrowing her eyes, "You're clever, both of you. Really clever".

"Hatter's the clever one, _I'm_ the fool," the Doctor flashed a grin at the Time Lady, who blushed faintly…though she would claim it was the cold if he said anything. He looked back over to Clara, lifting an eyebrow as he smiled knowingly, "But are you?" he tossed the umbrella back across to her, which she caught, "If we've got a plan, what is it? You tell us".

"That's the way to do it!" the ice woman appeared in the open window, having finally caught up to them.

Clara was staring at the Time Lords, however, frowning, "Is this a test?"

"Yes," the Doctor nodded.

"Think it through," the Hatter added, giving her an encouraging smile.

She was still frowning, eyeing them closely now, "What will it do to us?" she asked.

"Kill us," she replied instantly, inwardly wincing as Clara's eyes widened, "We're in its way, Clara, but don't worry about that. Just think".

"That's the way to do it!" a cracking noise sounded and they looked back over towards the window, watching as the ice woman began to disintegrate into flecks of snow, blowing out through the window.

"So, come on then," the Doctor urged Clara, trying to get her attention back to the task at hand, as Clara looked around quickly, "Plan. Do we have one?"

"Oh, I knew what your plan is," Clara grinned, tossing the umbrella back at him, "I knew it straight away".

"No, you didn't," he chucked it back to her, deflating slightly.

She easily caught it, smirking, "Course I did," she tossed it back towards him, only for the Hatter to casually reach out and snatch it out of the air…ruining the smoothness of the impressive catch by fumbling with it, of course.

The Hatter quickly tried to recover, her cheeks growing rather pink as she noticed the Doctor struggling to contain a laugh, "If you're so confidant," she turned back to Clara, raising an eyebrow, doing a good job of hiding her embarrassment, "Prove it," and she threw the umbrella back to her.

Clara caught it, moving closer to the Time Lords, "Why should I?"

"Because we'll be dead in under thirty seconds and our daughter is waiting for us to pick her up," the Doctor replied, looking quickly over towards the window, where the ice woman was starting to reform once more, snow rapidly swirling on that one spot, "Do we have a plan?"

Clara looked between them, narrowing her eyes thoughtfully, "If we'd been escaping, we'd be climbing down the building," she began quickly, edging around them, towards the edge of the roof as she thought out loud, "If we'd been 'iding, we'd be on the other side of the roof. But no, we're standing…" she tossed the umbrella up in the air and caught it again, looking back over to them, "Right 'ere".

The Hatter smirked, watching her closely, "And?"

"And!" she didn't take her eyes off them as she lifted the handle of the umbrella up above her head, hooking the curved end onto something hidden in the cloud…pulling the ladder to the TARDIS down beside her. She gestured to the ladder, just as the ice woman's skirts took shape, "After you".

"After you," the Doctor shot back, stepping back to let the Hatter and Clara go first.

"After _you_ ," she insisted, "We're wearing dresses," she pointed to herself and the Time Lady, looking back to him as the Hatter looked amused, "Eyes front, solider!"

"My eyes are always front!" he defended himself as he moved to start climbing the ladder, grinning back over his shoulder at the Hatter, "The Hatter's always ahead of me, of course".

"Oh, stop it, you," the Hatter rolled her eyes, pointing a finger at him. He laughed and continued climbing, making her shake her finger as she glanced at Clara, "Right, your turn".

"Oh, no," Clara smirked, gesturing to the ladder, "I insist," the Hatter eyed her for a moment, before carefully moving to start following the Doctor up, not overly concerned about anyone looking up her dress in the first place, she was wearing shorts for that very reason. Below her, Clara stepped onto the first rung of the ladder, clearing her throat as she looked back over to the fully reformed ice woman, "I understand that you're the previous governess," she said, sounding quite proper and well-spoken once more, "I regret to inform you the position has been taken. Goodnight".

She tapped the umbrellas hand against the ladder and it began to rise with her, while the Hatter smiled from a few steps above, having paused to watch curiously. She couldn't help being slightly amused by Clara; she likely would have done the same thing, in her position. Below them, the ice woman gave a angry growl, just as they disappeared up into the cloud and the Hatter found the Doctor's hand coming into view, offering her help to climb up onto the platform of the spiral staircase, the Time Lady turning around to offer Clara her hand, too.

"So you can move your cloud?" Clara asked the moment she stepped onto the platform, looking eagerly between the Time Lords, "You can control it?"

"No," the Doctor frowned at her, shaking his head, "No one can control clouds, that would be silly. The wind…" he paused, holding his finger up, "A little bit".

"Which is much less silly," the Hatter added, laughing slightly. She was well aware of just how silly both notions sounded, even if it was true.

Just then, the platform began to shake and they quickly peered over the edge of the railing, looking down to see the ladder being pulled back down, shaking as hurried footsteps sounded on the metal rungs.

"She's following us!" Clara gasped, looking back up to the Time Lords.

"Excellent," the Time Lady smiled brightly, looking completely calm, "Our plan is working just as expected. We need to keep her as far away from that house as possible. Come on!" she turned and grabbed the Doctor's hand, taking off running for the stairs, leaving Clara to follow.

"So, Clara," the Doctor started, glancing back over his shoulder as they moved up the circling stairs, "Barmaid or governess, which is it?"

Clara threw him incredulous look, "That thing is after us, and you want to _chat_?"

"When should we be chatting?" the Hatter called back down to her, keeping one hand firmly on the railing beside her and the other holding the front of her skirts up above her ankles, "Personally, I think that being chased by a talking ice sculpture to be a perfect time to get to know one another".

"Can't do it when we've been killed," the Doctor agreed, one hand lightly resting on the Hatter's lower back, just to help keep her steady, feeling rather nervous seeing her running up a set of narrow stairs while wearing all those skirts. He really was regretting encouraging her to wear the dress now, even if he did love certain aspects of it.

Clara's pace seemed to slow very slightly, making the Time Lady cast her a look over her shoulder, noting that she was frowning over the edge of the railing at the rooftops of London, which was but a mere speck from this height, "How did we get up so high so quick?" she questioned, puzzled

"Clever staircase," the Doctor informed her, "Taller on the inside".

They reached the cloud that the TARDIS was parked on and Clara hesitated before slowly stepping off the last step of the stairs and onto the fluffy clouds, looking around them with a wary expression.

"What am I standing on?" she looked over to the Time Lady, "What's this made of?"

"Clouds are made up of water vapour and tiny pieces of ice," the Hatter explained to her, while the Doctor whipped his sonic screwdriver out of his coat pocket, "This…" she pointed to the cloud beneath their feet, "Is just super dense vapour. Just a very, very strong cloud, basically".

The Doctor crouched down by the opening of the staircase and flashed the sonic at the thin layer of cloud lightly drifting through the air over the entrance, making it grow thicker until the metal of the staircase was completely invisible, "Should keep her trapped for the moment," he commented, tossing the sonic in the air and catching it again, slipping it away inside his pocket once more.

"That's the idea, anyway," the Hatter sighed, eyeing where the top of the stairs would be, before shaking her head and moving to follow the Doctor over to the TARDIS.

Clara seemed to get over her concern for the integrity of the cloud, quickly moving to fall into step with the Time Lady, "Do you actually live up 'ere on a cloud, in a box?" she asked her, eyeing the TARDIS curiously.

"Funnily enough, we do," the Time Lady smiled fondly at the TARDIS, though she did feel a little saddened to see what a shabby state the outside of the beloved box was, still covered in burnt patches from New York. When they had finished with the whole snow and Intelligence issue, they were going to need to do something about that. She glanced at Clara, "We've been here for a while now, Astra thought it was great. The novelty quickly wore off when she started walking, I assure you".

"Blimey, you two really know 'ow to sulk, don't you?"

"We're not sulking," the Doctor huffed, spinning around on his heel to give her an angry look.

"Doctor," the Hatter said warningly, placing a hand on his arm. Personally, she couldn't help agreeing with Clara, just a little bit, though Clara didn't know the full story.

"You live in a box!"

The Doctor pointed at her, still looking rather annoyed, "That's no more a box than you are a governess".

The Time Lady groaned as she noticed Clara's eye narrowing and turned quickly, moving to the TARDIS, "Sometimes, I honestly think he has _no_ idea how to speak to women," she muttered, shaking her head as she pulled her key out of her pocket, unlocking the door.

"Oh, spoken like a man," Clara snapped, making the Hatter wince as she pushed the doors open onto the darkened console room, casting a wary look over her shoulder. She just hoped the Doctor wouldn't end up getting slapped, he always moaned about it and it really was rather tiresome to listen all evening, "You know…" she continued angrily, pointing at the Doctor, who had turned his back on her to walk over to the time machine to follow the brunet inside, "You're the same as all the rest. Sweet little Clara, works at the 'Rose and Crown,' ideas above 'er station," she stormed into the open doorway of the TARDIS, glaring after him as he slipped further inside the console, the Hatter leaning against the darkened console, waiting for the perfect moment, "Well, for your information, I'm not sweet on the inside, and I'm certainly not…"

The Hatter grinned and flicked a switch on the console, watching in delight as all the lights around the room clicked on suddenly. Clara fell silent, her mouth slipping open as she stared around in shock at the massive room, everything all shiny and new, far from what she would be used to from her Victorian era.

"…little," she breathed, awe replacing anger in a moment.

"It's called the TARDIS," the Doctor told her proudly, wrapping his arm around the Hatter's waist, looking just as delight as she was with Clara's reaction. That was always their favourite bit, "It can travel anywhere in time and space," he broke into a grin, looking at the Hatter, "And it's ours".

"Yours, sweetheart," the Hatter corrected him lightly, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek, "I just have the privilege of getting to drive her".

As much as the Doctor might claim that the TARDIS was both equally theirs, it wasn't really and nor could it truly ever be. The TARDIS and the Doctor shared a history that not even the Hatter could possibly claim to have with him, something just as wonderful and special as their own history, but uniquely his and his alone. She might love the TARDIS, drive her, live in her, and help keep her running smoothly, but she could never call the TARDIS _hers_. Technically speaking, Astra had a much better connection to the TARDIS then the Hatter could ever have, given the genetic connection between Astra and the Doctor.

"But it's…" Clara began, pulling the Hatter from her thoughts. She was staring around, her eyes wide in disbelief, searching for the right words, "Look at it, it's…"

"Go on, say it," the Doctor smirked, watching her closely, "Most people do".

Clara looked back up to them for a moment, before whirling back around and dashing back outside, making the Hatter laugh and high-five with the Doctor. Humans, they never could quite get over the fact that the TARDIS didn't match the outside, it was practically traditional for them to have to go running outside to do a full circle on the box, just to make sure it truly was bigger on the inside. Clara was no different, it seemed, and after a moment she ran back inside the console room, stopping just inside the doors.

She paused, eyeing them, "It's smaller on the outside".

The Doctor and the Hatter slowly looked at one another, looking quite taken aback, "Okay," he said after a moment, blinking, "That is a first".

"Can't say I had a reaction like that one before, either," the Hatter agreed, glancing at Clara with a smile, "You've actually manage to surprise us, so congratulations on that".

"Is it magic?" Clara asked eagerly, moving closer towards the console, staring at all the bright lights and controls in undisguised wonder, "Is it a machine?"

"It's a ship," the Doctor replied, both he and the Time Lady turning to face the controls, their backs to the door.

She giggled, running around the controls and up the stairs leading to the walkway running around the walls of the room, overlooking the console, "A ship?" she repeated, clearly thinking more about a boat, then a spaceship.

"Quite," the Hatter nodded, grinning as she pattered the console, "The most wonderful and brilliant ship in the whole Universe, right, old girl?" she cooed, and a soft, gentle hum sounded through the room.

Clara looked around at the noise and jumped the two steps back down onto the main console level, moving around to stand next to the Time Lady, peering at the controls she was busy clicking, the Doctor doing the same thing on the next panel over, "Is there a kitchen?" she questioned suddenly.

The Doctor looked around the Time Rotor at that, exchanging an amused look with the Hatter, "Another first," he remarked, before turning his attention back to his control panel.

"I don't know why I asked that," she said absently, moving around the console, looking at the buttons curiously as she went, "It's just…I like making soufflés".

The Hatter instantly tensed, her mind going back to another young woman who had had a fondness for the same desert. She caught the Doctor's eye and knew that she hadn't been the only one to notice, her eyes moving to rest on Clara as she almost skipped back over towards the open doors, staring outside. After all these centuries, she had long since learnt that there was no such thing as mere coincidence, the Universe was simply to vast and impossible for something like that to ever happen, and yet…Clara just so happened to enjoy making soufflés. It sent a cold shiver down her spine…Oswin's last words pounding in her ears, words she had heard before, from another young woman's lips and now Clara…this was simply too much to ignore, but she needed to get a control over her emotions and not react. Not until she understood more.

"Soufflés, huh?" she forced a smile onto her lips, feeling as though she had just missed a step on a set of stairs, "Never was very good at making them," she eyed her closely, unable to help the faint frown from crossing her face, "It's…an interesting choice".

"Very interesting," the Doctor murmured, coming to stand next to the Time Lady, giving her a pointed look.

Clara suddenly turned around from the doorway, frowning deeply at the Time Lords, her eyes moving between them, "Why are you showing me all this?" she stared at them in confusion, as if the conversation about soufflés hadn't happened at all.

The Doctor walked closer to her, "You followed us, remember?" he pointed his finger at her, before turning back towards the console, shaking his head, "We…I didn't invite you".

She was still watching them, however, looking thoughtful, "You're both nearly a foot taller than I am," she said, making the Doctor pause and look up at the Time Lady, "Both of you could've reached the ladder without this," she held up the umbrella she was still carrying for them both to see, the Doctor turning back around to face her, "You took it for _me_ ," she tossed it at the Doctor, who easily caught it, "Why?"

He didn't say anything at first, looking back over to the Hatter, who met his eyes with a soft, encouraging smile. He couldn't help the small smile from crossing his own lips, unable to deny her anything when she looked at him like that. As if she knew exactly what he was thinking, the Hatter's smile grew even wider and her eyes lit up in delight, making him feel warmth bloom inside his chest. He turned back to Clara and walked closer to her, knowing what to do next and not regretting it in the slightest because this… _this_ felt right.

"We never know why," he told her quietly, smiling softly as he slipped his hand inside his pocket and withdrew a silver TARDIS key, holding it up for her to see, "We only know _who_ ," he waited for her to slowly, hesitantly, hold her hand out before placing the key onto her open palm, closing her fingers over it and holding it for a moment longer.

Clare blinked, looking down at her hand, "What's this?" she whispered, looking quite startled and emotional.

"Me," he smiled wider, looking over his shoulder to the Hatter, who looked like she was ready to dance from excitement, "Giving in".

"Finally," the Hatter laughed, moving to stand next to him, taking his hand. She even leaned closer to him to gently kiss his cheek, pulling back just enough to whisper in his ear, "I am very proud of you, sweetheart," she moved back from him, truly feeling so happy to see how far he had come in only a few hours, when for the past eight months, he had been so closed off to the idea of a new companion. How could she not be proud of him?

Clara was still looking down at her closed hand, laughing faintly as she looked back up to the Time Lords, tears filling her big brown eyes, "I don't know why I'm crying," she smiled tearfully.

The Hatter gave her a gentle, soft smile and let go of the Doctor's hand, moving to instead pull Clara into a tight hug, "Tears can be a good thing," she murmured in her ear, "It's how you know that this moment is special, even if you may not understand why. From this day forward, your entire life will change, _every_ thought you have ever had, _every_ dream, _every_ possibility that the Universe holds, is now right in the palm of your hand," she pulled back from her to look into Clara's face, her hands moving to gently grasp her shoulders as she smiled brightly, "And that's terrifying and wonderful and beyond your wildest imagination, so of course you're crying, Clara. After today, _nothing_ will ever be the same".

She squeezed her shoulders gently as Clara sniffed, blinking back tears, even though her eyes were shining brightly with excitement, before the Time Lady released her and turned to skip back over towards the controls, the skirts of her dress swinging and swishing around her, the heels of her boots clicking against the metal flooring. The Doctor caught her arm before she could reach the controls, grinning widely as he spun her around. But the moment cost them, distracted by exchanging excited smiles, when Clara's terrified scream suddenly rang through the air. The sound of Clara's key hitting the floor was almost deafening as they whirled around, arms still wrapped around one another, their eyes widening in horror at the sight of the ice woman behind Clara, dragging her out backwards through the door.

"Clara!" the Doctor shouted, "Clara!"

"Let her go!" the Hatter cried, untangling herself from the Doctor's arms to dash towards the door, the Doctor right on her heels, throwing themselves out of the time machine and out onto the cloud, "Clara!"

"Get off me!" Clara struggled desperately against the ice woman's grip, trying to dig her heels into the cloud as she was dragged backwards away from the Time Lords, but it was useless. Her heels kept slipping against the cloud.

"This is our fault," the Time Lady gasped, feeling a sickening sense of realisation crashing over her. She felt like she had just skipped a step going up stairs, her stomach dropping in horror, "We should have known that water vapour wouldn't stop ice, how could we have we forgotten that?"

The Doctor swallowed hard, whipping his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket, aiming it at the ice woman, "It's not your fault, dear," he said distractedly, advancing towards the ice woman, who was pulling Clara further and further away from them.

"Get off me!" Clara continued to struggle, trying desperately to hit and claw against the icy arms wrapped around her chest.

"Release her!" the Hatter tried, wanting to lunge forward and grab Clara, but she feared what the ice woman might do if she did, she couldn't risk hurting Clara further, "Please, just stop this! _Stop_ it!"

"Let her go now!" the Doctor's eyes widened, catching sight of how close to the edge of ice woman was getting, "Now!"

"Get off of me!"

The Hatter inhaled sharply, her chest constricting as she saw the look of terror in Clara's eyes as she stared back at them, realising just how close to the edge she was. She knew what the ice woman was about to do, "Don't do this!" she almost pleaded, lunging forward to try and grasp Clara's hand, her dress, anything that might save her, "Please, Clara!"

It was too late; the Hatter's fingers only just brushed against the chilled fabric of Clara's sleeve, before the ice woman stepped backwards off the edge of the cloud. The Time Lords collapsed on the edge of the cloud, watching horror-struck as Clara plummeted towards the ground, staring back up to them as she fall further and further away from them. The Hatter slumped against the Doctor's side, covering her mouth as her eyes stung. It wasn't fair, it was just so unfair, Clara had been an innocent and now…She swallowed thickly, squeezing her eyes shut as the Doctor pulled her closer to his side.

"We…we need to get down there," the Time Lady said softly, forcing her eyes open, looking miserably into the Doctor's pale face, "We can't just…leave her…" she broke off, almost chocking on the words.

Even in the short period of time that they had known her, the Hatter had grown rather attached to the girl, not least of all because of how familiar she was. Clara was clever and cheeky, with so much potential and a whole life still left ahead of her, it seemed almost impossible to imagine that the girl would never get to live that life, but perhaps there was still a chance to give the people who loved her a chance to say goodbye. They couldn't save her, not after a fall like that, but maybe…just maybe, they could buy her another hour.

….

The Doctor and the Hatter worked in silence as they brought the TARDIS to materialise around Clara's body in the frozen, snow covered garden of the manor house. As Clara's body appeared on the floor of the console room, the Hatter struggled to hold back as shuddering breath at the sight of the girl's still, peaceful body lying on the floor, her hair loose after the fall and pooling beneath her head, while chunks of ice littered the floor around her. The Time Lady couldn't stop herself from crouching beside the girl, blinking back tears as she gently placed a hand on her cheek.

"Oh, Clara," she breathed, sniffing slightly, "I am so, so sorry. Please, forgive me," she leaned down and pressed a small kiss on top of her forehead, before pulling back to look up at the Doctor's sad face, "It's not fair".

"It never is," he sighed, placing a hand on her shoulder.

….

The Hatter pressed her index and middle fingers against her lips, leaning against the railing of the TARDIS console, her eyes staring at the console panel ahead of her blankly. The Doctor's own mouth was pressed into a harsh line as he stood by another control panel, using his sonic screwdriver to scan the pieces of ice that had surrounded Clara's body, having placed them inside a small tin lunchbox. Clara's body had been moved into the office of the manor house, currently being kept alive by a highly advanced form of an alien life support system, capable of bringing back a person who had, for all intents and purposes, been dead, but it wouldn't keep Clara alive for long, just another hour or so, her body had sustained too much damage to be able to recover and heal in such a short amount of time. But at least now she could be surrounded by her friends.

The TARDIS door swung open and Vastra stepped into the room, her gaze moving between the Time Lords, who spared her a brief glance, the Time Lady shifting slightly and dropping her hand from her mouth, forcing herself to straighten. She bit back the urge to ask her how Clara was, how her friends were coping, not entirely sure she could bare the guilt right now. Vastra came to stand by the Doctor, eyeing the ice he was still scanning, what was left of the ice woman.

"Isn't the creature still a danger?" she asked, nodding to the clumps of ice, "It could reform".

"No, not in here," the Doctor replied, still scanning the ice without glancing at her.

"The console room is in a state of temporal grace," the Hatter explained, seeing the still rather unconvinced expression on Vastra's scaled face. She pushed off the railing and moved to stand by the controls, "No harm or violence can befall us within the room, just as long as the temporal grace has been activated, which it has. I made sure of that," she shrugged lightly, "You could try swinging your sword at me right now, Vastra, and find yourself quite unable to hit me".

"Fascinating," Vastra remarked, casting the Time Rotor a quick look.

"It can be a little temperamental, mind you," she sighed, lightly patting the edge of the console, "Type 40's are known to not always be the most reliable when it comes to the temporal grace".

"I'm sure the old girl understands how serious this is, dear," the Doctor said lightly, still examining the ice. The console hummed in response and the lights around the room dimmed before brightening once more, almost as though the time machine was agreeing with his words.

"Well, in that case…" Vastra turned her attention back onto the Time Lords, eyeing them with a small frown, "You should both be with Miss Clara".

The Hatter lowered her head, shame and guilt washing over her again, making her want to cringe away from Vastra's gaze. She wanted to be there for Clara, she wanted to try and comfort the girl and ensure that she knew just how horribly sorry they were for what had happened to her, but she was afraid. For the first time in centuries, she found herself actually afraid to face someone. Oh, she had been responsible for the death of many others before, indirectly, and it always weighed on her, but Clara was too close to home this time. She felt as if they had failed the girl and this time, the guilt and pain was simply too much.

The Doctor reached out to wrapped his arm around the Time Lady, glaring at Vastra, as though he was blaming her for upsetting the Hatter, "She's going to be fine," he said firmly, hating seeing how personally the Hatter seemed to be taking Clara's death, more so then normal, "I know she is. She _has_ to be," his expression softened slightly, lowering her gaze back onto the tin of ice.

Vastra looked between them, frowning, "Her injuries are severe," she told them, her tone calm. The Hatter closed her eyes tightly, "That equipment will bring back anyone for a while, but long term…"

"We _know_ , Vastra," the Hatter cut across her, swallowing thickly. She forced her head up to look directly at her, her eyes dry but her voice sounded slightly chocked, "We are well aware of how little time Clara has left, we understand it. Please…" she shook her head, taking a deep breath, "It's all our fault she's even…that's she's…" she forced herself to stop as she struggled not to burst into tears, refusing to allow herself to be overcome with emotion right now, clenching her left hand tightly as the Doctor looked worriedly at her, but she made herself continue, "Clara was _our_ reasonability, she was in our care and we failed her".

She stared at the Time Lady, narrowing her eyes slightly, "What is the point of blaming yourself?"

"None," the Doctor said softly, looking back to the Hatter, who met his eyes. He gave her a determined look, "Because she's going to live," he pressed a kiss to her forehead, desperately trying to wipe that guilt riddled expression off her face.

"Oh, sweetheart," the Hatter sighed heavily, looking possibly even more sad, shaking her head lightly at him. She couldn't bring herself to openly disagree with him, however, knowing that this was his way of trying to cope with what had happened, but they both knew, even if he wasn't willing to admit it right now, that Clara would not live through the night, if not the next hour. The girl was on borrowed time and there was nothing either of them could do to save her now, it simply was what it was.

He pretended not to hear her or see the pitying look in her eyes, slipping his sonic screwdriver back inside his pocket and snapping the lunchbox lid closed, locking the latch. He looked back up to her, reaching to take her hand, "Shall we, dear?" he asked her quietly, nodding over towards the TARDIS door.

The Time Lady took a steadying breath and nodded forcefully, allowing him to gently pull her along as he moved around the console towards the door. He opened the doors and they slipped out into the manor houses study, the room practically silent as the fire crackled in the fireplace. The children were standing off to the side of the room, their young faces pale as the now conscious maid stood behind them, watching over them while their father stood with his back to the rest of the room, looking out through the darkened window. Clara was lying peacefully on top of the desk, a pillow beneath her head and her hands clasped on her stomach, her eyes closed, as though she was sleeping, a red light suspended in the air above her, casting a reddish glow over her, keeping her alive for the time being as Strax was busy monitoring her vital signs next to the desk.

She just looked so peaceful; it was hard to imagine that she was dying right now, merely living on borrowed time. The Hatter felt her hearts clenching at the sight, tightening her hold on the Doctor's hand, so very glad that Astra wasn't here to have to witness this. They moved towards the desk, the Doctor passing the lunchbox off to Jenny as she stood by the door, coming to a stop next to the table. The Time Lady hesitated, glancing at the Doctor, who gave her a soft smile before reaching out to gently cover Clara's hands as they rested on her stomach, her skin feeling cooler then it ought to with the fire going only a few steps away from them.

"Clara," she said gently, using her other hand to lightly cup her cheek, her thumb moving across the girl's chilled skin. The girl stirred at the sound of her name, her eyes slowly opening to peer up at the Time Lords, "Hi, there," she forced a smile, "Nice nap?"

Clara stared up at them for a moment, her breathe slow and deep. She looked terribly weak, as though even keeping her eyes open was an effort, but she fought to, "They all think I'm going to die, don't they?" she asked weakly.

The Doctor shook his head slightly, leaning over the girl, feeling the Hatter tensing beside him, "And I know you're going to live," he smiled, hoping that she wouldn't pick up on the fact that he hadn't included the Hatter in that, knowing well enough her feelings on the matter and how seriously she took her word. The Hatter wouldn't have wanted him to lie on her behalf to the girl.

"How?"

The Hatter licked her lips, glancing at the Doctor, "Because today is supposed to be the start of something wonderful," she said, turning back to the girl, giving her a watery smile as she reached into the pocket of her dress, fishing out Clara's dropped TARDIS key. She knew she was lying, that the girl wasn't going to make it, but she couldn't bring herself to look into those big brown eyes and tell her the truth. Sometimes there could be kindness in a lie, "You have so many adventures left ahead of you, Clara," she murmured, pressing the TARDIS key into her hand, curling her limp fingers over the key. She kept a hold of her hand, squeezing it comfortingly, "Just think about that, okay?"

"The green lady," Clara murmured, her breathing growing softer, weaker with each passing moment. The Hatter bit her lip, desperately trying not to show how sad she felt, "She said you're both the savers of worlds once. Are you going to save this one?"

The Doctor reached out and placed his hand on top of Clara's head, his thumb lightly brushing against her forehead, "If we do," he began, giving her a small smile, "Will you come away with us?"

She peered up at them for a long moment, her lips lifting very slightly, "Yes," she whispered, "I'm very good at taking care of children, too…"

The Hatter laughed, while the Doctor broke into a wide smile, "What a bonus," she remarked, feeling her hearts lighten slightly.

The Doctor exchanged a look with the Time Lady, before turning to smile down at Clara, "Merry Christmas," he hesitated, before leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead, before straightening and stepping back slightly, allowing the Hatter the chance to do the same, before wrapping his arm around her waist as she straightened. He met her eyes, determination filling his eyes as he reached up to straighten his bowtie, "Ready, dear?"

She lifted her chin, any hint of softness that she had shown with Clara gone, "As always, sweetheart," she replied at once.

He smiled very slightly, feeling quite proud of her ability to swiftly change from the motherly, gentle woman he loved to the fiercely determined, brave fighter that he adored with every fibre of his being. He dropped his arm around her waist and instead took her hand, turning around to take the lunchbox back from Jenny, before leading the way out of the study and out into the entrance hallway. They walked down the hallway to the front door and swung it open to find Simeon standing on the doorstep, flanked by his snowmen, staring blankly at them.

"I have in my hand a piece of the Ice Lady," the Doctor announced as he held up the lunchbox, making one of the snowmen growl at them, "Everything you need to know about how to make ice people. Is that what you want?" he raised his eyebrows, watching as Simeon held out his hand and stepped forward, his eyes fixed on the tin, "See you at the office".

The Hatter grinned cheekily and wiggled her fingers at them in a little wave, before she and the Doctor quickly slipped back inside the house, slamming the door closed behind them. They didn't even pause to speak to the others as they returned to the study, flinging the TARDIS door open and dashing inside, Vastra following right on their heels.

"So then," she called after them, the Time Lords heading straight for the controls, preparing to take off, "Saving the world again?" she watched them work, their hands flying across the panels, flicking switches and pulling levels, "Might I ask why?" the Doctor shot her a quick, slightly annoyed look, "Are you making a bargain with the Universe? You'll save the world to let her live?"

"Yes," the Doctor said at once, and the Hatter paused as she typed something into the typewriter, glancing over to him with a small frown, "And don't you think, after all this time and everything we've both done, that we're owed this one?"

"I don't think the Universe makes bargains".

"Yes, it does," he looked up from the controls, smiling faintly. Vastra and the Time Lady gave him a confused look, his eyes drifting across to rest on the Time Lady, "The Universe brought me back to you, Hatter".

"I think the TARDIS did that, actually," the Hatter corrected lightly, though she couldn't help smiling at him, her hearts warming. She allowed herself the chance to enjoy the feeling for a second longer, before sighing heavily, "Sweetheart, Vastra's right," she moved around the controls, reaching out to cover his hand as it laid on the control panel, "Time and time again, it has been proven that the Universe doesn't accept bargains. Why would this be any different?"

"Because this was our fault," he said quietly, his smile disappearing instantly. He looked back at her, his expression full of regret and remorse.

She winced slightly and nodded slowly, squeezing his hand, "I suppose we'd better get on with it, then, hadn't we?" she tried to smile, but she couldn't, her hearts simply wasn't in it.

"It's a bad day when I'm the most optimistic one out of the two of us, dear," he remarked, his hand moving up to cup her cheek, giving her a slightly worried look. She was always the first one to believe in the impossible; always the first one to believe that something could come out of a bad situation, no matter what it was, that was simply the Hatter. The eternal optimistic, the dreamer of impossible and wild dreams, it was a bad day indeed if even she wasn't confident in his hope coming true, and judging by the frown Vastra was giving the Time Lady, she found it just as disconcerting, too.

The Hatter lowered her gaze from his, a haunted look crossing her face, "You're not the only one still dealing with the events of New York, sweetheart," she let go of his hand and turned away from him, his hand falling from her cheek as he watched her go with a understanding look.

They still had more important matters to be dealing with.

….

For a second time that night, the Hatter found herself back in Simeon's rather large office, perched on the edge of the desk as her skirts draped elegantly down over her crossed legs, her feet several inches off the ground, while the Doctor opted to sit in the leather chair at the desk, his ankles crossed as they sat propped on the desk, both Time Lords watching the large snow globe in the middle of the room, swirling with flecks of snow within the globe. Vastra stood just behind the Doctor's chair, looking fair less relaxed as they waited for Simeon to finally join them. The globe had remained completely silent for the past ten minutes that they had been waiting, no matter how hard the Time Lady had tried to get a response out of it, from telling frankly terrible jokes at it to relieving a few school stories that had the Doctor blushing and Vastra smirking in amusement, the globe had remained completely silent. In the end, she had been forced to admit defeat…though largely due to the fact that she was rather afraid the Doctor was going to combust if she told any more embarrassing stories about him, since she honestly could have gone on talking all night, if she had wanted to.

Finally, just as the Hatter was considering having another crack at the globe, the door swung open and Simeon stormed in with an annoyed expression on his still oddly blank face, marching directly over towards the desk. Neither Time Lord so much as blinked at his arrival, watching the snow globe calmly, while Vastra narrowed her eyes on the man.

"You promised us something," the man said angrily, coming to stand directly before the desk, looming over them. The Hatter merely raised an eyebrow at him and leaned sightly to the left, keeping the snow globe in view, "Have you brought it?"

"Big fella here's been very quiet while you've been out," the Doctor commented lightly, glancing at the Time Lady, "And trust me, my lovely wife has tried to get him chatting, but that's to be expected, considering who he really is," he dropped his legs from the table and rose swiftly, grabbing the lunchbox sitting on the desk, holding it up for them all to see with a flourish, "Do you know what this is, big fella?"

"I do not understand these markings," the snow globe replied, finally talking.

"Ah, that's because it's a map," the Hatter informed it, slipping off the edge of the desk, glancing at the lunchbox, which was covered in a map design, "In fact, it's a map of the London Underground from 1967. Personally, I always thought it was a bit of a weakness in metropolitan living," she shrugged, exchanging a smile with the Doctor, "But that's probably just because of how many unfortunate incidents we've had involving tunnels, it does rather make one wary of them. Oh, and caves…and planets that look strangely like slate quarries, science facilities, anything that can be labelled a 'base…'"

"Enough of this," the snow globe cut in, making the Hatter stop short and throw it a mildly offended look. The Doctor, on the hand, looked as though he was barely containing his laughter, "We are powerful, but on this planet we are limited. We need to learn to take human form…" while the globe spoke, the Doctor withdrew the sonic screwdriver from his pocket and held it behind his back, activating it. The snow globes voice began to change towards the end of its final sentence, its pitch growing higher until it sounded like a little boy speaking, "…The governess is our most perfect replication of humanity".

Vastra blinked, looking quite confused, "What's happening to its voice?" she asked, glancing at the Time Lords, who were watching Simeon closely, the man looking slightly disturbed.

"Just stripping away the disguise," the Doctor said casually, not taking his eyes off Simeon as he held the sonic screwdriver up for them to all see, tossing it in the air and easily catching it again, slipping it away inside his coat pocket.

"No, stop!" the globe cried. The Hatter almost winced, she never could resist the cries of a child…but this was no child, "Stop that. Cease, I command you".

Slowly, Simeon sunk down onto the edge of the desk behind him, staring at globe with an almost fearful expression on his face.

"It sounds like a child," Vastra frowned, seeming quite confused.

"That's because it _is_ a child," the Hatter told her, her focus on Simeon, watching him closely, "A little boy, a little boy who never did quite ever grow up, did he, Doctor Simeon?" Simeon refused to look at her, but he seemed to shrink back, his gaze fixed transfixed on the snow globe, "See, Vastra, the snow has no true voice without Simeon here to provide it for it," she glanced over towards Vastra.

"Don't listen to her!" the globe shouted, "She's ruining everything".

"Well, that's charming," the Time Lady muttered, casting the globe a look over her shoulder.

The Doctor, however, was eyeing Simeon, "How long has the Intelligence been talking to you?" he questioned.

"I was a little boy," Simeon said quietly, still refusing to look at any of them, his shoulders hunched over, as though he was trying to curl in on himself and hide away, "He was my snowman. He spoke to me".

"But that's not how the snow works, is it?" the Hatter shook her head, leaning down slightly, trying to catch his eye, but his gaze was fixed on the snow globe, "The snow mirrors you, reflects back all the things that you think and feel. All your fears, all your hopes…"

The Doctor nodded along with her, "You poured your darkest dreams into a snowman and look…" he pointed back over his shoulder to the globe, not looking away from the hunched man, " _Look_ what it became".

Vastra was shaking her head, looking even more confused and frustrated, "I don't understand".

"Think of the snow like a parasite," the Hatter looked back over to her, straightening, "And ever since Simeon was a child, the snow has been feeding off of him".

"The loneliness of a child," the Doctor sighed, turning around to look up at the globe, his expression grim, "And the sickness of an old man," he glared up at it for a moment, knowing all too well how it felt to be both a lonely little boy and an ancient, sick man…but he had the Hatter, just as he would always have her, Simeon never found someone to be his best friend or his rock to lean on like she was to him. And this is what happened as a result, "Carnivores snow meets Victorian values…" he turned back around to face Simeon, "And something terrible is born".

"We can go on and do everything we planned," the globe insisted.

The Hatter pulled a face, grimacing as she crossed her arms across her chest, "Oh, yeah," she scoffed, "Great plan, real cheerful. Who wouldn't want to live in a world of living ice people?" she glanced at Simeon, raising an eyebrow, "Could you seriously be any more Victorian if you _tried_?"

Simeon frowned up at her, "What's wrong with Victorian values?" he glared at her, before lunging forward and snatching the lunchbox out of the Doctor's hands, moving to unlock it.

"Ah, ah, ah," the Doctor held up a hand, stoping Vastra as she moved to intervene, her hand reaching for her sword slung over her hip, but she stopped at his gesture. The Time Lords watched the man intently, "Are you sure?"

He looked up to them, narrowing his eyes determinedly, "I have always been sure," he found the lock and pulled the lid off, reaching inside the tin…only to pull out the memory worm, which squirmed in his hand before suddenly latching onto his finger, making him gasp painfully.

"Being certain is always a good thing," the Time Lady commented, watching with a hint of sympathy as the man's entire body jerked sideways, "Especially when one is losing their entire adult memories. Sorry about that".

"No parasite without a host," the Doctor added, looking far less inclined towards sympathy for the man, who collapsed onto the floor with a loud groan, his eyes growing completely blank as the worm took effect. He crouched down beside him, "Without you, it will have no voice. Without the governess, it will have no form".

All around the room, lights began flashing brightly and the machinery surrounding the globe sparked slightly, "What…what…what's happening?" it demanded, sounding for the first time truly panicked, "What's happening? What did you _do_?"

The Hatter turned around on heel, looking up at the globe, "What needed to be done," she said, eyeing the globe with a grim expression, just as the Doctor climbed back onto his feet, "We broke the connection, shattered the mirror, if you will. And now, it's time for you to go. See you!" she cheerfully wiggled her fingers at the globe, smiling far too widely and brightly.

"What did you…did you…"

Slowly, the voice began to fade and fall silent, the machinery switching off…when suddenly, the lights brightened once more and the snow within the globe swirled violently against the glass. The Hatter blinked, feeling utterly confused as she glanced at the Doctor, realising that something very bad had happened.

"Did you really think it would be _so_ easy?" the globe called throughout the room, the voice sounding deeper and stronger. In fact, it almost sounded smug.

"That's not possible," the Doctor breathed, his eyes widening, reaching out to take the Hatter's hand, "How is that possible?"

"It shouldn't be," the Hatter shook her head quickly, her eyes fixed intently on the globe, "This shouldn't be possible at all!"

"Doctor?" Vastra said loudly, sounding quite concerned, "Hatter?"

The Time Lords spun around to see her standing by the large window, flecks of snow drifting passed the glass outside. They hurried over to peer out through the window themselves, the Time Lady gripping the edge of the windowsill with one hand seeing snow quickly blanketing London. Astra was out there right now, and that wasn't even taking in account all the other innocent, defenceless people without a clue of what was happening. But _how_? How was any of this even possible, the Intelligence only had power through Simeon, without him, how could they possibly do any of this?

"How are you doing this?" the Time Lady demanded, whirling around on her heel, her skirts swishing around her ankles as she dropped the Doctor's hand, marching back over towards the globe, "Explain it".

"You were just Doctor Simeon," the Doctor shook his head, coming to stand beside his wife, frowning up at the snow globe, "You're not _real_. He dreamed you. How can you still exist?"

The Hatter suddenly gasped, her eyes widening as her head snapped around to look at the Doctor, "Oh…" she covered her mouth with her hand, "Oh, we are getting way to old and slow, Doctor…"

"Now the dream outlives the dreamer and can never die," the globe said smugly, making the Doctor and Vastra blink, glancing between it and the Time Lady, who looked horrified by whatever realisation she had made, "Once I was the puppet…" suddenly, behind them, Simeon's unnaturally pale and frost covered body leapt onto his feet, looking more ghoul-like then human now, his voice combining with the globes, "Now I pull the strings!"

"Blimey, we've been so stupid," the Time Lady breathed, turning around to face what was once Doctor Simeon, her hazel green eyes wide and her face pale, "This is exactly what they've been trying to do this whole time, take on a human form and we went and handed them one," she looked back to the Doctor, who looked appalled, catching on to what she was saying, "We erased Simeon's memories, providing them the perfect shell to fill".

Vastra glanced at the Time Lords as they looked at her and she reached behind her, unsheathing her sword. She moved to lunge the frosted puppet as he began to walk towards the Time Lords, but the puppet simply backhanded her out of his way, as though Vastra was nothing but a small inconvenience, causing the women to fly backwards into a hard heap on the floor.

"Vastra!" the Hatter cried, tossing the puppet a wary look, torn between rushing to check on Vastra to staying by the Doctor's side. The Doctor made the choice for her, pushing her over towards Vastra and purposely stepping directly into the puppet's way, forcing the Time Lady to growl in frustration as she stumbled slightly, catching herself on one of the machinery panels, spinning back around.

The puppet grabbed the Doctor's arms, wrestling with him as the Doctor struggled and fought to tug himself free, but the puppet was simply to strong, inhumanly so, "More than snow, more than Simeon!" it shoved the Doctor down onto the ground, making him grunt in pain as he clawed the icy hands gripping his arms painfully, "Even this old body is strong in my control!"

The Hatter desperately searched her brain for an idea, for anything that might help the Doctor, her hearts racing painfully in her chest as the puppet straddled the Doctor, its hand moving to press against the Doctor's cheek. He cried out in pain, his body shaking as he still tried to push the puppet off him, but he was no match for its strength and try as the Hatter might, she couldn't think of what to do to stop him, to save the Doctor, his scream of pain cutting through her like a hot knife. She wasn't a warrior or a fighter, violence was never an option…but her husband was being tortured, if not dying, right before her eyes. Was there truly any line she wouldn't cross to protect her family?

"Do you feel it?" the puppet loomed over the Doctor, speaking over his pained cries, "Winter is coming!"

The Hatter snatched up Vastra's fallen sword and gripped it tightly, running over towards the puppet. Her knuckles ached from how tightly she was gripping the cool metal of the handle, but she ignored it. She had the advantage of surprise, shoving her side as hard as she could into the puppet's shoulder, causing the puppet to release a growl of fury and tumble sideways off the Doctor, releasing his hold on his face. She winced at the impact, but managed to steady her balance, bringing the very deadly tip of the blade to rest beneath the puppet's chin.

"Enough of this!" she snapped, "I won't let you hurt anyone else tonight!"

The puppet was fast, far faster and stronger then she had perhaps anticipated, cackling loudly as it suddenly knocked the blade away from its throat, not seeming to care nor notice that it sliced its own flesh with the motion. The Hatter groaned in pain as the force of the knock felt like someone had just brought a hammer down on her shoulder joint, her moment of distraction costing her as the sword went flying out of her hand, skidding across to the other side of the room. Before she could even blink, the puppet had lunged at her and she was tossed backwards onto the floor, the air knocked out of her lungs as the puppet straddled her.

"Perhaps I'll take you instead!" the puppet's hand suddenly gripped her cheek and she screamed in pain, her eyes squeezing shut as she felt like her skin was turning to ice and her very blood seemed to chill.

"No!" the Doctor's distant, horrified shout drifted over her, but she was in far too much pain to fully comprehend what was happening, her fingernails clawing useless against the ice cold, iron-like hands gripping her, "No, stop it! Take me instead, take me!"

And then, just as the Hatter could feel her mind starting to wane under the puppet's will, the puppet gave a cry of pain and suddenly released her, tumbling sideways onto the floor. The Time Lady gasped, sucking in a sharp breath, her face feeling damp and cold, but the pain was gone, which she was taking to be a good sign. The Doctor was beside her almost instantly, looking utterly terrified as he pulled her tightly into his arms, his entire body shaking as he gripped at her back as though afraid she was going to suddenly disappear.

"What's happening?" the puppet grunted, squirming on the floor on his back, his frost covered face scrunched up in pain.

The Doctor didn't even spare the puppet a glance, pulling the Hatter back enough to see her face, his hand moving up to cup her pink cheek, "Are you okay?" he asked worriedly, still a hint of wild panic glimmering in his eyes, his hand trembling very slightly.

"Fine, sweetheart," she breathed, still trying to catch her breath, "I'm fine. You?" he nodded wordlessly, to relieved to speak, "But I don't understand," she frowned, shaking her head in confusion, glancing across to the puppet, "Why did he… _it_ stop?"

"The globe," Vastra said suddenly, pulling herself upright, one hand bracing her on the floor. She pointed over towards the globe and the Time Lords followed the gesture, finding that the snow within the globe had been replaced with water, "It's turning into rain," she told them, "All of it, the snow, look".

The Hatter blinked and watched as the water within the globe rain down the glass, casting a look over her shoulder to see that outside, rain was lashing against the window rather than white flecks of snow. She meet the Doctor's eye and she couldn't help feeling somewhat relieved to find that she wasn't the only one feeling rather bemused by the sudden change in events that had transpired, her hearts still racing madly in her chest, but a dull ache was starting to wash over her arms and cheek, where the puppet had grabbed her. She just hoped it wouldn't bruise on her face, she didn't wish Astra to see that.

Suddenly, the puppet gave a loud, pained grunt and they all jumped, looking over just in time to see Doctor Simeon's hand fall onto the floor with a thump, his eyes wide and glassy as he grew still. They all moved closer to the body, the Time Lady slowly reaching out to touch its hand, wincing against the chill. Simeon's flesh didn't even feel human, more like a rubbery doll.

"He's dead," Vastra looked back up to the Time Lords, frowning at them, "What happened?"

"The snow…" the Hatter said slowly, her eyes moving to rest on the window, watching as the rain trailed down the glass outside. She swallowed, hard, "It was only ever a mirror, reflecting back the emotions and fears of others…"

"It's mirroring something else now," the Doctor realised, catching on to what she was saying, "Something so strong, it's downing everything else…"

The Hatter was already climbing to her feet, stumbling slightly in her hast as her boots caught in her skirts, her entire body feeling as though it had been slammed repeatedly into a brick wall. She supposed that in a way, it had been. The Doctor instantly moved to help her, even though he tried to hide his own grimace, no doubt feeling just as uncomfortable as she was, but neither allowed it to stop them from rushing towards the window once they were on their feet, the Time Lady swung one of the panes wide open, sticking her hand out into the rain. It felt warm against her skin.

"The house was covered with snow," she said quickly, looking terribly worried and pale, allowing the rain to drench her skin, "It was where most of the snowmen's activity was tonight, which means that if something was to happen there, something very strong and powerful…" she withdrew her hand from the rain and brought it up to her lips, licking her own palm. She almost immediately closed her eyes, a pained expression crossing her face as the Doctor and Vastra both moved to taste the rain, too.

"It's salty," Vastra grimaced, looking back to the Time Lords, lowering her wet hand, "Salt water rain".

The Doctor's eyes widened, "It's not raining," he said quietly, looking quickly to the Hatter, "It's crying," he reached down to grasp her hand and she opened her eyes, tears filling them, "The only force on the Earth that could drown the snow. A whole family crying on Christmas Eve".

"Clara," the Hatter whispered, looking utterly miserable, blinking back tears.

….

The Doctor and the Hatter brought the TARDIS to land back inside the study of the manor house, the Hatter barely managing to hold back the tears threatening to spill over her cheeks as she worked at the console. The moment they landed, they dashed for the door with Vastra on their heels, slipping outside and into the almost completely silent study. Everyone turned to look, their faces filled with grief as the children wept in their father's arms, but the Time Lords only had eyes for the young woman lying peacefully on the desk, her arms now lying on either side of her body, her eyes closed and cheeks paler than ever before. She was still alive, but just barely.

"I'm sorry," Strax said grimly, standing by the doors of the TARDIS, "There was nothing to be done. She has moments only".

"Thank you, Strax," the Hatter murmured, reaching out to lightly grasp his shoulder, before letting her arm drop back to her side, her eyes flickering over to the children crying, swallowing thickly. She reached out to take the Doctor's hand and took a deep, steadying breath as they moved towards the desk, the Time Lady placing her free hand on Clara's cool, pale cheek, her fingers lightly stroking her skin, while the Doctor covered Clara's hand with his own, "Clara," she called gently, making the girl slowly open her eyes, "Hey, you ought to be proud of yourself," she gave her a small smile, "We just saved the world and we couldn't have done it without you. Thank you".

Clara blinked slowly, her lips twisting into a small smile, but even that seemed tiring, "Are you going back to your cloud?"

The Doctor caught the Hatter's eye and he shook his head, squeezing Clara's fingers, "No more cloud," he said softly, looking down at Clara's face, "Not now".

"Why not?" she breathed, her eyes closing.

He looked up at the Hatter, tears silently slipping down her cheeks, "It rained," he pulled the Hatter closer to his side and the Time Lady released a shuddering breath, turning so that she could rest her head against his, knowing that the time had come.

"Run," Clara's voice drifted through the air, barely a whisper. The Doctor and the Hatter both looked back to her, "Run, you clever boy and girl," her eyes opened, looking back at them, "And remember".

The Hatter inhaled sharply, her eyes widening, just as the clock chimed midnight.

"It's Christmas," the little boy sniffed, tears covering his cheeks, looking up to his father, "Christmas day".

Clara's eyes slipped shut, taking her final breath.

….

The funeral service for Clara had been a simple affair in a church not far from the manor house, Captain Latimer and his children had been there, of course, and the Time Lords and Vastra's gang. As it always was when someone so young died, the funeral proved to be a horribly sad one, the Hatter hadn't been able to stop herself from shedding several tears, no matter how hard she might have tried not to, not having wished to upset Astra, who had sat up on the Doctor's knee during the service. The burial was done quickly, a headstone already in place by the time the grave diggers had finished, leaving Latimer and his children to pay their final respects to the girl, while the Doctor and the Hatter stood closely beside each other several feet away, Astra dressed in a black dress as she clung to the front of the Hatter's dress, her head tucked beneath her mother's chin. Vastra and Jenny joined them a moment later, silently watching the human family grieve from afar.

"And what about the Intelligence?" Vastra asked finally, glancing at the Time Lords. The Hatter's eyes were still quite red from her tears, her chin lightly resting on top of Astra's bonnet covered head, "Melted with the snow?"

"No, I shouldn't think so," the Doctor shook his head, his expression grim, holding a bouquet of flowers in his hands. He exchanged a look with the Time Lady, "It learned to live beyond physical form".

"We'll see it again, in fact I'm certain of it," the Hatter remarked, sighing slightly, adjusting Astra on her hip, "Perhaps not in these bodies, or even in the future, but in the past…certainly".

Vastra and Jenny gave her a strange, confused look, but the Hatter barely seemed to notice, her gaze fixed ahead of them on the partly obscured grave and the small family gathered around it.

"Well," Jenny began, deciding to simply go with it, since the Time Lady clearly wasn't in the mood to try explaining all of that, "We can't be in much danger from a disembodied Intelligence that thinks it can invade the world with _snowmen_ ".

Vastra smirked slyly from behind her black veil, glancing at the Time Lords, "Or that the London Underground is a key strategic weakness," she remarked pointedly.

Astra giggled, earning a delighted smile from Jenny and fond looks from the Hatter and the Doctor, the Time Lady pressing a loving kiss to the top of her head. The little girl had been rather upset by the news that the nice lady from the carriage had died when the Time Lords had arrived to pick her up on Christmas morning, though the Doctor and the Hatter had waited until after presents and Christmas dinner to tell Astra the news, not having wished to ruin the little girl's Christmas Day. But of course Astra had noticed that her parents were upset, she had practically refused to leave their side all of Christmas Day, even to the point of throwing a rather dramatic tantrum when the Hatter had tried to put her down for her afternoon nap. Of course, all the sweets that the Doctor kept sneaking her when the Hatter wasn't looking probably hadn't helped matters.

The Doctor frowned suddenly and reached inside his pocket, pulling out Doctor Simeon's business card, eyeing it, "The Great Intelligence," he said thoughtfully, looking back up to the Hatter, "Rings a bell. The Great Intelligence…"

"So it ought to," the Hatter said with a mildly disproving look, "We've encountered the Intelligence before. Honestly, your memory gets worse and worse, sweetheart".

"I don't remember you recognising the name earlier," he pouted slightly.

"Yes, well…I can't be expected to remember everything, Doctor," she said quickly, lifting her chin higher as he gave her a look, though her attempt to look dignified was rather ruined by the very obvious blush covering her cheeks.

Astra laughed, clapping her hands, "Funny, Mummy and Daddy!" she cooed.

The Doctor gave Astra an indulgent smile, reaching across to lightly stroke her cheek, making the eighteen month old pull a slight face. She truly did look just like the Hatter when she did that, though with his eyes, "My little star," he said softly.

"Doctor," the Hatter lightly nudged his side with her elbow, her tone suddenly strained. He pulled his gaze off Astra and turned back towards the grave, just in time to see Captain Latimer and his family walking away. He gave the Time Lady a weak, comforting smile and wrapped his arm around her waist as they moved towards the grave to say one final goodbye to Clara, only stop short upon catching sight of the writing engraved into the stone headstone, "Of course…" the brunet murmured, sounding oddly satisfied, as the Doctor crouch down before the grave, staring at the writing in disbelief.

"Doctor?" Jenny called, she and Vastra moving to join them, "Hatter?"

"I never knew her name," the Doctor told them quietly, not taking his eyes off the writing, "Her _full_ name".

"'Clara Oswin Oswald,'" the Hatter read aloud, thinking back to the bright, cheeky girl that had helped them when they had been sent to the Dalek Asylum, the girl who had been turned into a Dalek and hadn't even known it. And then there was another girl, just as cheeky, just as memorable, a girl that the Hatter had never forgotten, no matter how many centuries might have passed. If her suspicions had been planted with Oswin in the Asylum and flourished with the most recent appearance of Clara in Victorian London, this completely confirmed what she had first suspected. She didn't understand it, she couldn't even _try_ to comprehend what was happening or how any of this was possible, but yet it was.

"It was soufflé girl again," he breathed, shaking his head slowly, "Oswin. It was her. Hatter, it was _her_!" he dragged his eyes off the headstone to look up to the Time Lady, his eyes wide as she nodded slowly, a small, sad smile crossing her lips. She didn't look the slightest bit surprised and perhaps, he realised, she wasn't. She had been acting oddly ever since Clara had spoken to them in that alleyway; she had been oddly attached to the girl far more quickly than normal, taken her death so much harder than even she would normally have taken it. She knew something, he just couldn't figure out what, "Why aren't you even _surprised_?" he couldn't help almost gaping at how utterly calm she was.

She hesitated, before shaking her head and nodding her head very slightly down towards Astra, shooting him a warning look. She had already assured him that she would explain, but not in front of Astra, it was complicated enough for the adults, let alone to bring Astra into the whole mess. Instead, she glanced at Jenny and Vastra's curious faces, "We never did get to see her face in the Asylum, did we?" she remarked lightly, her eyes settling sadly on the headstone, "But her voice was so familiar, though the accent was slightly different…"

"Hatter?" Jenny frowned, looking completely confused, "Doctor?"

The Doctor jumped onto his feet, spinning around to face them, putting aside his own questions that he had for the Hatter for the time being, "The same woman, _twice_ ," he took the Hatter's hand, still trying to wrap his head around this whole thing, "And she died both times. The _same_ woman!"

"Doctor," Vastra cut in, staring at him in mild alarm, "Please, what are you talking about?"

"There's something that has been set in motion, Vastra," the Hatter said quickly, her speech very fast, frowning deeply, "Something utterly impossible and astonishing".

"Something…" the Doctor trailed off, realising that he truly had no words to try and describe what was going on, the Hatter had summed it up quite nicely, in his eyes. He grinned broadly, excitement filling him as tightened his hold on the brunet's hand, "Right!" he looked back over to Vastra and Jenny, pointing at them with his free hand, "You two stay here. Stay right here. Don't move an inch!"

"Adventure, Mummy?" Astra struggled to pronounce the word 'Adventure,' looking eagerly up at the Hatter, her green eyes bright and filled with excitement, just like the Doctor's.

"That's right, my darling," the Hatter grinned, pressing a kiss to her forehead, "Adventure time!"

Astra clapped excitedly, almost smacking her mother in the face with her enthusiasm, not that the Time Lady seemed to notice as she and the Doctor turned to dash off towards where they had parked the TARDIS, leaving a very confused looking Jenny and Vastra to stare after them.

"Are you coming back?" Vastra called after them.

"Shouldn't think so!" the Doctor shouted over his shoulder, not slowing his pace in the slightest, manoeuvring around tombstones.

"But where are you going?"

The Hatter stopped suddenly, forcing the Doctor to come to a stop, too. She flashed Jenny and Vastra a grin, her eyes glimmering, "Why, to find her, of course," she said, as though it ought to be obvious, "We have to find Clara. There's not a moment to lose!"

The Doctor laughed loudly and tugged at the Time Lady's hand, pulling her off through the graveyard once more, quickly reaching the TARDIS that they had parked at the entrance of the graveyard. They hurriedly unlocked the door and dashed inside, the Hatter moving to place Astra in her seat, before joining the Doctor up at the controls, setting them off.

"Clara Oswin Oswald!" the Doctor cheered, practically dancing around the controls, before coming to a skidding stop next to the Hatter, who was looking up at the monitor screen, where a picture of Clara was on the screen, dressed in her Victorian finery. He grinned, looking at the Hatter, "Watch us run!"

….

The Hatter was delighted to be back in her normal clothing, her Victorian dress had meet with a rather unfortunate accident that had involved turning the dress into a much smaller version for one of Astra's teddy bears to wear, much to the little girls delight, who had been thrilled with the prospect of her teddy dressing like her mummy. Personally, the Hatter had found the moment she had cut through the fabric to be terribly satisfying, though the Doctor had remarked that the expression on her face had been more terrifying than anything else. Apparently, she might have enjoyed cutting up the dress just a little too much.

She absently toyed with the silk bookmark in her fingers, the book she had been absently trying to read open in the other hand, though she couldn't say she had actually been taking of the words in for the past ten minutes, her legs curled beneath her on the comfortable leather couch she was sitting on. A fire was going in the grating of the Victorian style fireplace across from the couch, bathing the room with a warm, orange glow that caught the wood panelling on the walls. The room looked remarkably similar to the office that the Time Lady had once had on Gallifrey, homey and warm, there was even several pictures scattered around the room of past companions and versions of herself and the Doctor, including one from their wedding. And, of course, a few of Astra, the most recent one was sitting on the small table next to the couch, Astra grinning toothily up at the camera with green and blue paint streaks on her cheeks, having been making rather a mess of trying to paint. The Hatter hoped it wasn't a sign that Astra had inherited her miserable art skills.

The door of the room opened then, making the Hatter blink and look up to see the Doctor slipping into the room, his blazer absent but his bowtie still proudly visible. It was a wonderful sight to see. He dropped onto the seat next to the brunet, reaching up to rub his eyes tiredly, while the Hatter looked on with amusement, snapping her book shut without bothering to mark the page. She wasn't overly interested in it to begin with.

"How many stories this time, sweetheart?" she asked, sitting the book aside on the coffee table, before falling back against the cushions of the couch.

"Just three…" he hesitated, seeing her raised eyebrow, and sighed, "Okay, so _maybe_ five, but the last two were short, Hatter," he added hastily, pointing a finger at her.

She laughed softly, shaking her head fondly, "Only eighteen months old and she's already got you figured out," she smirked.

The Doctor placed his hand on her bright pink, tights covered knee, flashing her a grin, "She's too much like her mother, apparently," he leaned forward and kissed her.

The Hatter couldn't help laughing again; breaking the kiss, "So…" she quickly grew serious, covering his hand resting on her knee with her own, her amusement dying in a moment, "Clara".

"Ah, yes," he grew just as serious, eyeing her curiously. He had even sat up a bit straight, "You know something about her, don't you?"

"Not much more then you do, I'm afraid. But you're right…I do know something, I must confess that my suspicions first arose with Oswin, her voice was so familiar and then her parting words to us, 'Run you clever boy and girl. And remember…' I'd heard those words before, but again, things happened and it slipped my mind. But then Clara…I know her, Doctor, I _know_ her".

"How?"

She sighed, trying to figure out exactly how to explain it all to him when even she was struggling to understand it all, "My brother only had one child," she began, meeting his eyes. There was no point beating around the bush, she might as well just say it, "A daughter, called Clara Oswin Oswald…"

The Doctor stared at her for a long moment, looking as though he was trying to compute what she had just said, "Okay, I… _what_?" he frowned, shaking his head sharply, "How…what…I'm confused, dear".

"Tell me about it, I feel like we ought to make a T-shirt. I bet we could find some hippster to buy it, too…"

"Is this really the time to be planning our future business plans, Hatter?"

"Probably not, no," the Time Lady sighed heavily again, nodding as she sunk further back into the cushions, "I don't understand any of it myself, Doctor, I wish I did," she reached up and took her hat off, her other hand running through her hair, while he watched her with a small, confused frown, "I just simply know that Clara is… _was_ my niece, one of the few blood relatives that I ever actually liked, I even nicknamed her Os! She even helped me leave Gallifrey and I'm telling you," she sat up straighter, looking directly at him, "When I saw Clara in the alley, I saw my niece. She is…was the very copy of her, from her cheeky grin to her love of children. My niece and Clara are one in the same, save for the fact that Clara was human and Os was a Time Lady".

Silence settled over the room as the Doctor processed everything, frowning vaguely as the Hatter placed her hat back on top of her head, her hair sticking up slightly after running her fingers through it. She didn't know how to feel about any of this, she had felt so torn with Clara, logically she knew that the girl wasn't her niece, but yet she had looked and acted just like her, making it impossible at times for the Time Lady not to see her niece. Seeing Clara dying had been like losing her niece all over again.

"Hatter," the Doctor watched her closely, his large forehead creased thoughtfully, "Are you positive there isn't just a simple explanation for why Clara looked so much like your niece? It's happened before; sometimes people look just like someone else…"

"Doctor, I'm telling you, Clara was an exact copy of my niece, save for her species. That's three times, _three_ times that we've encountered the same girl, and one of those times she was related to me. _How_? How can that even be possible? She was my blood, that's not just a small matter, this is so much bigger then we know. How does any of this even work?"

He shook his head slowly, "I don't know," he breathed, looking quite disturbed, "And I really, really don't like not knowing, not when it's something this personal".

"I agree," the Hatter nodded firmly, taking a deep breath, "This girl is utterly and completely impossible".

He blinked quickly, glancing at her, "What happened to Os?" he asked, "We've meet two versions of Clara who have died after meeting us…"

Her expression instantly saddened, her eye growing distant with memories, "She died, shortly after I left Gallifrey," she told him, her voice soft, "I didn't even know for over two centuries, my favourite niece…" she took a deep breath, shaking her head, forcing herself to try and push aside the emotions that arose with those memories right now, emotions she had never quite resolved, "She was a professor at the Academy, a junior position, when there was an incident in one of the chemistry rooms in the level above her room. The ceiling caved in and Os was the only one to die, she didn't even have a chance to regenerate".

"Oh, Hatter…" the Doctor murmured, edging closer to her and wrapping his arms around her shoulders, pulling her closer to his side. He ignored her hat as he pressed a kiss to cheek, seeing the pained expression on her face. Of course she still grieved, even all these centuries later, no wonder she had grown so attached to Clara so quickly, "I don't know how any of this is possible," he said gently, pressing the top of his head against hers, knocking her hat askew, "But we'll figure it out, I swear. We'll find her and this time, we'll get answers".

The Hatter smiled softly and closed her eyes, nodding very slightly, feeling completely comfortable and at ease in his arms, feeling his warmth pressing against her side. They had solved plenty of mysterious like this one before, they could do it again and this time, they would find out what was really going on with Clara, she had no doubt about that.

 _ **I'm back! I can't believe how long it's actually be, I can't even begin to apologise for the wait, my life has been oddly more busy then I imagined it would be given the fact that I only go to class one day a week. Let's see, nursing school has been fascinating, I went on my two weeks on placement in February and while it was terribly stressful, it was also really great. I really bonded with the other students in my class who went with me, meet some fantastic and funny patients who I think will probably stick with me for the rest of my life, and have found myself spending quite a bit of time doing home work. Plus, I've also been feeling rather drained the past few months and just not in the mood to be writing, again, a result of the stress of schooling, I expect. I didn't wish for the story to suffer as a result of me forcing myself to try and produce something when my heart wasn't in it, so I thought it best to simply wait until I got the urge back to write.**_

 _ **Now, I had thought I would have posted this chapter well and truly before Doctor Who came back, and I still can't believe it's taken until now to get back into writing the Hatter. I've missed her so much, my God; it's like seeing your best friend again after they've been away for months. I've got to say that I love the new Doctor, she's wonderful and alien and she also has a gentle, compassionate side to her that I had desperately hoped to see in her. There were times when I was watching her and just went 'Wait, that's such a Hatter thing!" I will say, though, that I'm not overly convinced with the whole three companions thing, I feel like it was just too many people and the storylines suffered as a result of it, I mean, some episodes faired better in that regard, but I think it would have been better to have two, at the most, and perhaps another companion who would pop in for an episode or two.**_

 _ **I feel like I had so much I wanted to write in this author note, but I can't actually think of what else to write about, which I'll probably regret the moment I post this and then remember, but never mind. I hope you guys liked it; the chapter is positively huge, I even consider cutting it in half again. Tell me what you thought, please review :)**_

 _ **Guest reviews:**_

 _ **Guest (1):**_ _ **I actually really enjoyed the Woman Who Fell to Earth, I thought it was a great episode for anyone watching the show for the first time and I felt excited watching it. I thought Thirteen was wonderful with so much potential, I loved her as the Doctor from the moment she crashed into that train. Talk about making an entrance. My favourite new companion is probably Yaz, though I like all of the companions, I love the fact that Graham seems like such a real, practical character and that Ryan has a disability that we see him struggle and fight against. I remember thinking that the alien was creepy, but I was kind of disappointed that it came back in the final episode. My favourite moment was the scene when the Doctor is up on the crane and she gives Tzim-Sha a choice, only for Karl to knock him off the crane and we see the Doctor's reaction. I felt like we got to see a glimpse into just what sort of moral compass this Doctor had in that moment, how she might react again in the future in situations like that. I very much enjoyed the whole episode, though.**_

 _ **Guest (2):**_ _ **I kind of vaguely referenced to what you were talking about here, but I didn't want to go into detail too much, I mean the Hatter's travelled herself; she's had her own adventures. She's come across other people who look like another person before, but Clara's different and so I didn't see any reason to go overly into detail in that regard.**_

 _ **Sam Fraser (1):**_ _ **I had actually read about that somewhere, I can't remember where or why I would have been reading about Abraham Lincoln's death, probably when I was going through my phase of loving 'Abraham Lincoln's: Vamprie Hunter' movie. I know that he suffered from depression throughout his life, to the point that he didn't carry a blade with him, if I'm wrong please do correct me. His life does seem to have been full of tragedy, the deaths of his children and we know now days the mark that war leaves on those who fight in it, but in those days he would have suffered in silence, no one would have understood post-traumatic stress disorder. It makes me terribly sad to think about it. I don't personally believe in the afterlife or anything like that, but I hope that he managed to find peace, in the end. Thank you for sharing the information.**_

 _ **Guest (3):**_ _ **I hadn't planned to update the 'What if' story, but I'd be open to the idea in the distant future.**_

 _ **Guest (4):**_ _ **No, I haven't read any of the comics; it sounds like a very interesting insight into how the Doctor's view each other, however. I love the idea of Ten being suspicious of Twelve, while Twelve is busy being arrogant and Eleven is just trying to keep the peace. Strangely, I always kind of saw Ten as being the peacemaker between Eleven and Twelve. Sounds like a great comic :)**_

 _ **Sam Fraser (2):**_ _ **Have I answered this review already on my Tumblr? I feel like I have, I apologise if I haven't, but I wouldn't wish to repeat myself :)**_


	14. Chapter 14 The Bells of Saint John, P1

_**The Bells of Saint John, Part 1**_

The Hatter grimaced as the harsh fabric of the black and white nun's habit itched her sensitive skin, barely resisting the urge to scratch at the back of her neck for what must have been the tenth time in the past hour alone. She couldn't believed she had agreed to wear the damn outfit, even if she had cheated somewhat and kept her bright blue tights, yellow Oxfords, skirt, and bright pink top on beneath the robes, hidden easily from view by the tent she was wearing. The wimple and veil, partly obscuring her face, kept pricking the back of her neck, her hair pulled back in a plait beneath it. Blimey, she missed her hat, her lovely, itch-free hat. She was truly starting to think that the Doctor had far too much power over her, though she was rather proud to be able to claim that she probably held even more power over him, when she choose to use it. He practically turned into a puddle of mush with just a quirk of her lips and wink in his direction.

However, if there was something she missed more than her hat or the ability to move freely without getting her hands lost amongst the billowing sleeves of her robes, it was Astra. Just thinking about her daughter's sweet, chubby little cheeks and curious green eyes made her chest warm with love, absently slipping a slightly worn and dog-eared picture out from amongst the mass of fabric, smiling softly and sadly as she looked at the small picture. Astra's face grinned toothily back up at her, a bright pink and green stripped party hat perched on her bobbed hair, while the Doctor was grinning almost as widely, a similar party-hat on his own head as he cradled the excited two year old in his lap. The picture had been snapped during Astra's birthday party, the little girl had barely held still long enough for the Hatter to snap the picture. Oh, how she missed her, it felt like a piece of her very being had been scooped out of her chest, and they'd only been apart for two months.

"Hatter," the Doctor's gentle voice broke through the silence of the small chamber that they had claimed as their own within the castle monastery. She looked up from the picture, pushing her veil back enough to be able to meet his soft green eyes from beneath his own hood, dressed in a horrible set of brown monks robes. Somehow, he actually managed to pull it off better than she was currently pulling off the whole nun outfit, which was just a tad annoying. He reached across the old, uneven wooden table to cover her hand that had been resting on the table, entwining his fingers with hers, "I miss her too, dear".

"I know, sweetheart," she sighed, letting her gaze move back to rest on the small picture, "I just…I can't help thinking about her, I feel like half my time is spent wondering what she's doing, if she's happy…if she's even noticed we're gone yet, and the other half trying to focus on finding Clara".

"Astra's fine, better then fine, I bet. Besides, to her we'll only be gone twenty minutes".

"Still, I hate being separated from her, even for her own good".

He gave her a soft smile, squeezing her hand comfortingly, "So do I," he agreed quietly, his eyes flickering down to look at the picture, upside down, from his side of the table. His expression was tinged with sadness and affection as he looked at the photo, before he took a deep breath and pulled his eyes back up to the Time Lady, "We just have to remember why we're doing this, Hatter. If Clara posses even the slightest threat, we can't risk Astra being anywhere near her," his tone grew firmer, determination filling his eyes, "I will not allow anything to happen to our daughter, not _ever_ ".

"Agreed," the Hatter said just as determinedly, straightening slightly, "Until we know for certain just what degree of knowledge Clara has about this whole mess, we simply can't risk it," she looked back at the picture for a brief moment, before carefully slipping it back away in her robes, safely hidden. She allowed her eyes to move to rest on the rather good portrait of Clara that the Doctor had done in order to keep himself busy and distracted from thinking about their daughter, the painting still sitting partly finished on his easel in the middle of the room, Clara's faintly smiling face looking back at her. The words 'Run you clever boy and girl. And remember…' painted along the bottom of the portrait, a reminder, "I just hope we catch a lead soon. I'm well and truly sick of this nun nonsense, Doctor".

"Oh, but I think you look like a beautiful nun, Hatter," he grinned cheekily at her, his eyes lighting up.

The Time Lady gave him a withering glare, though there was no true annoyance behind it, "Oh, yes," she said sarcastically, "Because I am just such your typical nun, married and with a child. Remind me again how you talked me into this?"

"Well, I don't think there was really much talking going on…"

Instantly, her cheeks flushed bright red and her eyes widened, looking rather startled by his words, his lips turned up in a knowing smirk, "Doctor!" she almost spluttered, desperately trying to regain some form of composer. It only seemed to amuse him, not that she could blame him. There was little to do around here to entertain themselves but tease one another and flirt rather shamelessly, "That's no very monk-like of you," she managed to chock out.

"Neither was pulling me into that confessional yesterday, not that I'm complaining, dear".

"Shut up," she muttered, looking as though she was in danger of combusting, carefully avoiding his eyes to peer up at the curved, stone ceiling above their heads, candlelight around the room casting shadows against the stone.

The Hatter could have sighed in relief by the sound of footsteps moving towards them from the passageway leading to their chamber, ducking her head in an attempt to hide her positively glowing red cheeks. The Doctor shot her a smug grin before tugging his hood back up over his face, though she could still feel his eyes on her from beneath the depths of his hood. It was probably wise that they had been interrupted, otherwise they more than likely would have ended up back in the confessional…at least this time it wouldn't have been during morning preys and the chance of getting caught by the Abbott after the Doctor unfortunately whacked his head rather loudly would have been minimal.

"They call him the mad monk, don't they?" a young male voice spoke as the footsteps grew closer, his voice echoing up the stone passageway, "And the woman, I hear they call her the wise sister".

"They shouldn't," the familiar voice of the aged Abbott replied, sounding rather disapproving. The Hatter felt her cheeks warming once more, her memory flashing back to that rather unfortunate incident the previous morning…, "They are neither a monk, nor a nun, I assure you," he and his companion stepped into the chamber, neither Time Lord making any move to so much as glance at them, "Ahem," he cleared his throat, pausing just within the doorway, "I'm sorry to intrude, but the bells of Saint John are ringing".

The Hatter broke into a delighted smile and she lifted her head, just as the Doctor looked across to her, smiling just as widely. This was it,finally _something_ more than just sitting around, playing checkers and flirting…not that the whole flirting thing had been much of a hardship, though they had perhaps gone a little over the top with it without having to worry about Astra witnessing anything, the incident with the confessional was proof enough of that. The Doctor rose from his wooden stool and turned in a whirl of his monk's robes, walking towards the older, grey haired Abbott, tossing back his hood to reveal his face. He had carefully concealed his expression in a more serious one, his smile hidden, though his green eyes looked brighter.

"We're going to need two horses," he told the man, looking between the older man and the younger monk that stood slightly back, eyeing the Time Lords with curiosity. He didn't wait to see their response, turning on his heel with a snap of his robes to move back across the room to where the Hatter had stood from her seat. He took her hand as he reached her, barely resisting the urge to kiss her cheek, "Shall we, dear?"

"Oh, yes, please," the Time Lady nodded eagerly, grimacing slightly as the back of her neck inched again, "Anything to get out of these blasted clothes…" she blushed as he lifted an eyebrow, his eyes growing playful, and she hastily smacked his chest with her free hand, " _Behave_ , Doctor"

He grinned, pressing a kiss to her cheek, ignoring the shocked gasp that followed from behind them from the young monk, "Always, Hatter," he said softly, his expression anything but.

The Hatter rolled her eyes fondly and shook her head, tugging him over towards the door before he could get anymore cheeky ideas in his head. Honestly, he was getting worse and worse the longer they were alone together, just the two of them, without any little girl to suddenly come bursting in the room because she'd had a nightmare or just simply wanted their undivided attention. But right now they had important matters to deal with; the Doctor would simply have to find a way to behave himself until later.

…

The ride was only a short one, enough time for the Hatter to happily enjoy the sensation of being free of her nun's robes and veil, her hair now free from the plait as it hung loosely down her back. Her hat, sadly, was currently in the TARDIS, along with her leather jacket, but she hoped to be reunited with them both very shortly, smiling to herself as she kept pace with the Doctor's own horse as they moved through the countryside towards a woodland area. She ignored the rather stunned and appalled look that the young monk kept throwing her, apparently still unable to quite know how to handle her short skirt and tights, or so she assumed. For all she knew he might just not be a fan of her yellow shoes. Finally, they reached their destination in a small clearing within the forest, the sound of a phone ringing piercing through the peaceful, mist filled air surrounding them.

The Doctor practically threw himself off his horse and onto the leaf covered ground just so that he could be there to offer the Hatter a hand down, grinning at her as his fringe dangled in his forehead, flicking the long, billowing sleeves of his robes back. The Hatter laughed fondly and placed her hands on his shoulders, allowing him to take her by her waist and lift her down with ease.

"Yeah," she smirked at him when his hands didn't so much as budge from her waist, even once she was standing flat-footed on the ground, "You are _so_ not a monk, sweetheart".

"And that skirt you're wearing is very nun-like, isn't it, dear?"

She laughed and winked at him, reluctantly dropping her hands from his shoulders, as he seemed just as reluctant to release her waist. Instead, he took her hand and they stepped away from the horses, exchanging a small frown as the ringing continued loudly, coming from an underground cavern set beneath a small hill. The young monk that had joined them was already putting together a torch, the flames flickering with the slight breeze as he waited outside the stone entrance. The young monk led the way inside the cavern, the torchlight lighting up the narrow passageway as the Doctor and the Hatter followed behind him, until they turned a corner and the passageway opened up into a larger space, revealing the TARDIS parked at the back, tree roots dangling down through the ceiling. The phone was still ringing, making the Doctor and the Hatter exchange a small, puzzled look.

"That is not supposed to happen," the Doctor remarked, starting to look quite alarmed, while the Hatter looked far more curious then anything. He and the brunet quickly moved towards the time machine and he grabbed the small handle sticking out of the panel with the instructions on it, pulling it open to reveal the phone ringing inside. He glanced at the Hatter, raising his eyebrows, and the Time Lady nudged his arm and nodded pointedly towards the phone, silently telling him to answer it already and stop fussing around. He grabbed the receiver as she pressed closer to him to hear as he lifted it up to his ear between them, "Hello?"

"Ah, hello!" a bright, female voice came over. The Hatter frowned slightly, that voice…she recognised that voice…, "I can't find the internet".

He blinked slowly, looking taken aback as he glanced sideways at the Hatter…only to find her frowning vaguely, "Sorry?" he asked, convinced he must have heard wrongly.

"It's gone, the internet. Can't find it anywhere. Where is it?"

"You've lost the internet?" the Hatter asked slowly, raising her voice very slightly to ensure that the woman could hear her over the other end. She knew that voice, she didn't know how it was even possible for Clara to have managed to get their number, she supposed that was yet another thing to add to the growing list of questions that surrounded the girl, but she wanted to be completely certain before she said anything to the Doctor. He would only get excited and if she happened to be mistaken, which she sincerely doubted, she didn't want to see his face fall. Her frown deepened, feeling mildly suspicious about the girl's intentions, even though a very large part of herself wanted to simply trust the girl and help her, "As in… _the_ internet, which happens to be accessible by most phones and computers throughout the twenty first century? And you've _lost_ it?"

"Yes, the internet," she sighed, actually sounding like she was the frustrated one, which was almost laughable, "Why don't I have the internet?"

The Doctor looked at the Hatter in disbelief, "It's 1207," he informed the woman, while the Time Lady looked even more puzzled, seeming completely lost as to what to make of this whole thing, which didn't bode well in his mind.

There was a brief pause on the other end of the phone, "I've got half past three," she said, sounding as though she was frowning now, "Am I phoning a different time zone?"

"Yeah, you really sort of are".

"Will it show up on the bill?"

"Ooh, _yeah_ …" the Hatter winced sympathetically, pressing herself closer to the Doctor in order to get closer to the phone, not that her husband seemed to mind in the slightest, "Sorry, but you probably should try wrapping this up quick, if, you know, you ever want to afford to eat anything but two minute noodles for the rest of your life. Blimey, that sounds bleak…" she grimaced at the thought, before she shook her head, dismissing the thought, "Anyway, Clara, out of curiosity, how did you get this number?"

The Doctor's mouth almost hit the floor, his eyes widening in shock, " _Clara_?" he repeated loudly, his voice echoing off the stone walls, making the poor monk watching them with utter confusion written across his face flinch. Some dust even drifted down from the ceiling.

"Shh, Doctor!" she hissed at him, elbowing him sharply, covering the bottom of the receiver with her palm, "Yes, it's Clara. Now, hush and pay attention," she uncovered the receiver, waiting with a hint of inpatients in her expression.

"How do you know my name?" Clara questioned on the other end of the phone, sounding confused and startled.

The Time Lady smiled, feeling pleased that she had been proven correct, though there really hadn't been much doubt in her mind that it was Clara, she'd recognise that voice anywhere by now, "I'm psychic," she said dismissively, ignoring the Doctor's wide eyes, apparently still rather shocked, "Now, Clara, who gave you this number? It might be important".

" _Okay_ …" she said slowly, sounding as though she didn't quite know if she ought to take the Hatter seriously or not. That was probably wise of her, considering that most of what the Hatter said could be taken as teasing, "Well, it was the woman in the shop who wrote it down. It's a help line, isn't it?" the Hatter and the Doctor exchanged a quick, unsettled look, listening as Clara continued, oblivious, "She said it's the best help line out there. In the Universe, she said".

"What woman?" the Doctor asked quickly, seemingly starting to calm down after his shock, though he did seem to be listening more intently now then he had been before, "Who was she?"

"I don't know. The woman in the shop…"

"That certainly narrows down the list," the Hatter muttered sarcastically, sighing. She could come up with at least ten women with their number off the top of her head right now, but she couldn't imagine any of them giving their number out to some stranger having trouble with the internet. Their friends were the most trustworthy people on Earth, there was no way they would just go handing that sort of information out to just anyone, so who else could have their number? And why did they give it to Clara, of all people? It was like the Universe was trying to pull the three of them together, but yet, each time they were together, Clara ended up dying. She wished the Universe would just make up its mind already.

"So…" Clara was still speaking, drawing the brunet's attention back to the phone, "Why isn't there internet? Shouldn't it sort of…be there?"

"Look," the Doctor began tiredly, not overly impressed with the idea that he and the Hatter were being used as tech-support, "Listen, we're not actually, it isn't…" he paused as he caught the Hatter's eye, sighing as she gave him a small little smile and mouthed, 'keep her on the line, sweetheart'. Well, he supposed it was just the chance they had been looking for to try tracing Clara, but still…tech-support? _Really_? He barely held back a groan, knowing he had to do it, pride or not, "You have clicked on the wifi button, yeah?"

"Hang on…" she murmured distractedly over the line, obviously doing just that, or trying to, " _Wifi_ …" she practically sang to herself, barely above a whisper.

"It's on the bottom bar of you screen," the Hatter called helpfully over the line, inwardly rather stunned that someone from the twenty first century didn't know how to use the internet, how was that even possible? Did this version of Clara grow up under a rock? It was helping to make the Hatter feel less inclined towards thinking of this version like her niece, Os, however, which was a good thing, "Bottom right corner, next to the clock," she added, having a feeling this girl hadn't so much as turned a computer on before today, "Should look like four bars, might have a little cross saying that you're not connected".

"Right…"

"Click on the wifi," the Doctor instructed her, trying to sound patient, reaching up with the hand not holding the receiver between himself and the Time Lady to rub his forehead, "You'll see a list of names. You see one you recognise…"

"It's asking me for a password".

"Is it okay if I go and see Nina?" a young girl's voice called distantly from the background of the call, "You can call her mum".

"Sure," Clara replied, obviously speaking to the girl, her own voice sounding slightly distant now, as though she had held the phone away from her mouth, "What's the password for the internet?"

The Doctor blew out a breath through his lips, blowing the Hatter's hair slightly as he rolled his eyes in annoyance, lowering the phone from his ear, "Okay…" he murmured to the Time Lady, "It's Clara, we've somehow managed to stumble across the girl…again, without even trying. What do we do now?" he looked at her expectedly.

The Hatter raised an eyebrow at him, looking almost amused, "Why do you expect me to have a plan already?" she whispered back.

"Well….because it's _you_ , dear! And she's…well, she's kind of, sort of, not… _really_ your niece".

"You do realise that sentence makes little sense, sweetheart".

"You understood what I mean, though".

"Of course," she smirked, pressing a kiss to his cheek. To be honest, he could probably start speaking in tongues and she still would have a pretty good idea of exactly what he was trying to say, that's what happened when you knew someone as well as she knew him, likewise for him with her, she would imagine.

"Is it an evil spirit?" the monk suddenly asked, his voice soft as he stared at the phone receiver in the Doctor's hand with an almost fearful expression.

The Doctor cleared his throat and glanced over to the monk with a vaguely surprised expression, as though he had forgotten the man was even there, "A woman," he told him, bringing the receiver back up to his ear between himself and the Time Lady.

The monk looked even more afraid as he crossed himself, looking down at the dirt floor.

The Hatter narrowed her eyes at him, "Okay, I'm going to try _very_ hard not to get offended right now…" she said warningly, making the man pale and shift a small step back from them.

"Hang on, just a mo," Clara's voice came back over the line, instantly making the Time Lords listen, keys tapping softly in the background, "Run. You. Clever. Boy. And. Girl. And. Remember. One…"

"Oh, no," the Hatter gasped, suddenly looking horrified as her hand grabbed the Doctor's upper arm.

"…two…"

"What?" the Doctor hissed urgently, looking alarmed by her reaction, "What is it? Hatter?"

"Doctor, that's what they've all said, each version of Clara that we've encountered, right before they've _died_!"

"…three…"

His eyes widened, realisation hitting him, staring into the Hatter's pale, panicked face, "Clara!" he shouted, unable to stop himself. He couldn't bear to see the look in the Hatter's eyes right now, not when this was so important to her, so personal. Clara might have just have started out as a curious mystery, but she was more than that to the Hatter, she was personal, somehow Clara had managed to weave herself into the Time Lady's very family centuries before the Hatter had ever even left Gallifrey, she had been someone that the Hatter had loved, someone she had witnessed grow-up, only to believe that she had then died and had grieved for her. They couldn't allow the chance to understand what was truly happening slip through their fingertips again.

"Don't shout," the girl huffed, sounding annoyed, "Now you've made me type it wrong. It's thrown me out again. What do I do? How do I get back in…?"

The Hatter tightened her grip on his arm, "We need to get to her," she whispered frantically, not dropping eye contact with him for a second, her face paler than normal, "If she's about to…if we're going to lose her again, we might still be able to save her. Come on!"

She didn't wait for him, not even sparing the monk so much as a glance as she spun on her heel and threw the TARDIS door open, dashing off inside the depths of the console room, her rubber soles of her shoes squealing unpleasantly against the metal flooring as she came to a fast stop before the controls. Behind her, the door slammed shut and the Doctor joined her, apparently having hung up the phone. If history had taught them anything about dealing with Clara, it was that they needed to act quickly and with everything they had. They would not make the same mistakes as before twice.

….

Clara's location was easy to track down; in fact it was so simple that the Hatter barely restrained the childish urge to kick at something after all of their efforts and clever attempts to find the girl had proven utterly fruitless all these months. It turned out all it took was one simple, very strange phone call and they managed to lock onto her location, the Doctor not even bothering to pause to change his monks robes, which flapped around his ankles and kept catching on the controls as they dashed around the console. Finally, they landed in the middle of a suburban London street and the Time Lords made a run for the doors, the Time Lady not even stopping to finish tugging her leather jacket on her properly or straighten her beloved hat.

The house that Clara was apparently living in was quite ordinary, set on the corner and with a small front garden, mostly made up of a short driveway, which happened to be empty, while the front facade was mostly red brick with at least three levels, it looked as though they had built into the eves at some point in recent years, with a skylight in the roof. It seemed so ordinary that someone so mysterious as Clara Oswin Oswald would be living there, the Hatter couldn't help wondering what her family would have thought if they had seen it, her so very traditional brother's only child living in some average, human house…but of course Clara wasn't Os, she couldn't be. The girl had been completely human the two other times that they had encountered her, and if she was suddenly a Time Lady now then the Hatter would be able to sense it the second she left the TARDIS. No matter how much this girl looked like Os, spoke like her, _smiled_ like her…she was not her niece. The Time Lady just had to remind her hearts that.

They hurried up to the front door and the Doctor, without hesitating, began ringing the small doorbell on the side of the door, while knocking his knuckles against the frosted glass window pane on the door. The Hatter felt like she was buzzing with energy, shifting from side to side, ringing her hands together in an attempt to find something to keep them occupied. The last time the same girl had said those words to them, 'Run you clever boy and girl. And remember,' she had died. It was hardly a good omen.

"Hello?" distantly, over the sound of the knocking and the ringing bell, Clara's voice sounded from within the home, followed by the thudding of feet, "Yes, I hear you! Yep. Ah huh!" a blurred, slightly red outline of someone appeared through the frosted window pane, just before the door was thrown open, revealing Clara standing before them, "Hello".

The Hatter struggled to know quite what to do with her expression as she took in the girl, her brown hair straightened and hanging loosely around her face, coming just below her shoulders, while she wore a dark red dress and black tights. A small necklace hung around her neck, looking almost like a dragonfly.

"Clara," the Doctor said excitedly, staring wide eyed at the girl, "Clara Oswald".

Clara regarded them both dubiously, her eyes flickering over the Doctor's monk robes and the Time Lady's bright yellow shoes and blue tights, "Hello?"

"Clara Oswin Oswald!" he grinned, reminding the Time Lady of Astra. He was practically dancing on the spot, not that she could blame him when she was struggling to contain her own emotions right now as it was.

"Just Clara Oswald," she laughed slightly warily, still eyeing them closely, "What was that middle one?"

"Never mind that," the Hatter shook her head, taking a small step forward, looking intently at her, "Clara, do you know who we are? Are we…familiar at all?"

"No…should you be? Who are you?"

"The Doctor," the Doctor introduced himself brightly, his expression falling slightly at Clara's lack of recognition, glancing at the Time Lady, "And this is my wife, the Hatter…" he turned back towards Clara, who was still looking utterly blank, if slightly confused by what was going on, and frowned deeply, " _No_? The Doctor and the Hatter?" he tried again, before quickly looking at the mirror hanging on the wall just inside the small entrance hallway of the house, peering at his reflection worriedly, as though checking to make sure he still looked like him.

Clara simply looked at them, confused, "Doctor who?" she asked blankly, "Hatter who?"

"Yeah, it's actually _just_ the Doctor and the Hatter," the Hatter told her with a small, dismissive shrug of her shoulders, looping her thumbs casually through the belt loops of her skirt. She fixed a forced relaxed, calm smile onto her lips as she looked at Clara, desperately trying to disguise just how hard her hearts were beating right now with excitement and trepidation. She wasn't surprised that Clara seemed to have no memory of them, after all, the Victorian version of her hadn't recognised them either, so why would this version? But she couldn't pretend to not be just a little disappointed.

"Actually, sorry…" the Doctor cut in suddenly, dragging his eyes off his own reflection to look back at Clara, "Could you start all that again?"

"Could I what?" Clara blinked, looking even more confused.

"Honestly, sweetheart," the Hatter muttered, rolling her eyes fondly, "Can your ego get any bigger?" she turned back to Clara as the Doctor only smiled widely, "He wants you to ask the question again, the first one. Please, just humour him, it makes life easier," she winked at Clara.

She smiled faintly, still looking vaguely bemused, "Doctor and Hatter who?"

The Doctor's eyes lit up in delight, eagerly looking at Clara, "Okay, just once more".

"Doctor and Hatter who?"

"Ooh…" he backed back out onto the doorstep of the house, dancing slightly side to side on the spot as he rubbed his hands together, "Yeah…" he suddenly grabbed the Hatter's right hand and twirled her on the spot, though the Hatter merely laughed and went along with his impromptu dancing, far too used to him suddenly grabbing her and pulling her into a quick, mock waltz to even blink an eye after all these centuries. She smiled fondly when he pulled her back to his side, pressing an affectionate kiss to her cheek, before turning back to Clara, who was watching them with a look caught between amusement and puzzlement, "Do you know, I never realised how much I enjoy hearing that said out loud," he remarked happily, "Thank you".

"Okay," Clara nodded, giving them a smile that practically screamed that she thought they were nuts, though personally the Hatter would argue that was mostly aimed in the Doctor's direction, before she slammed the door closed on them.

"Hey, no!" the Doctor exclaimed, somehow managing to avoid his robes getting caught in the door. He quickly moved forward, pressing his palms flat against the window pane.

The Hatter sighed, reaching up to rub her forehead in exasperation, "Well, that certainly could have gone better," she said, lightly nudging the Doctor away from the door, "Clara!" she called loudly through the door, lightly knocking her knuckles against the glass, "Please, we mean you no harm, we just want to talk. Please, just listen, just for a few minutes…"

There was a long pause, the Time Lady watching the door intently, one hand gripping the Doctor's arm to stop him from knocking or warning him against speaking right now. If either of them were going to get through to Clara, it would be the Hatter, since the Doctor, quite frankly, looked as though he had just escaped from some weird Halloween party. Who would speak to some odd man who had turned up randomly on their doorstep, dressed like a monk? At least the Hatter looked somewhat normal, in an eccentric way.

"Why are you still here?" Clara called suddenly, her voice coming out from the door intercom system set up just above the doorbell. The Doctor grinned and waved at the little camera, while the Hatter almost sighed in relief, "Why are you here at all?"

"Oi!" the Doctor's smile vanished, frowning at the camera, "You phoned _us_ ," he pointed between himself and the Hatter, looking almost offended by the fact that they were being accused of something they hadn't done, "You were looking for the internet".

"That was you two?"

"Obviously," the Hatter smiled, looking amused as she glanced at the Doctor, who huffed slightly and rolled his eyes. She shook her head, giving the camera a raised eyebrow look, "Out of curiosity, how do you lose the internet, anyway? How does that even _happen_?"

"How did you get here so fast?" she asked instead.

The Doctor shrugged casually, "We just happened to be in the neighbourhood," he replied, before gesturing with a flourish of his billowing sleeves back over to the TARDIS parked just on the footpath outside the house in full view of the camera, "In our…" the Hatter coughed pointedly, and he corrected himself without skipping a beat, "… _my_ mobile phone".

"When you say mobile phone, why do you point at that blue box?"

The Time Lady laughed, casting a fond look over her shoulder, "Probably because it's rather accurate…" she commented, exchanging a knowing, secretive look with the Doctor.

"Okay, we're finished now…"

"Oi, no, don't!" the Doctor called hurriedly, his eyes widening as the Hatter shook her head rapidly, but the connection had already been cut off. He pouted and looked at the Time Lady, "Suppose it could have been worse," he said with a sigh, turning away from the door, "She could have slapped me".

"Or had us arrested," the Hatter added warily, allowing her gaze to look him up and down, taking in his monk robes. How he still managed to wear those things without complaining about the fabric itching him, she had no idea, "Right," she went on, her tone growing firmer, determined, "Now, sweetheart, you know I'm all for dressing up…"

"Hatter, you hate dressing up, you always moan about something when you dress in anything but your own clothes. Heels, corsets, Victorian dresses…even wigs…"

"That's…that's hardly the point, Doctor," she blushed, trying and failing to stop the blush from creeping up her neck and across her cheeks, her voice sounding higher than normal. He lifted an amused eyebrow, as if to say 'Oh, _really_?' "The _point_ is that no one is going to take you seriously dressed like that…" she reached out and playfully tugged on the billowing sleeve of his robes, "No wonder Clara thought we were nuts, though she's probably wise to jump to that conclusion given that it is _us_ ".

He looked down at himself for a moment before nodding firmly, "Right, dear," he said determinedly, suddenly completely serious, looking utterly resolved to make amends. He did have to admit that the Hatter made an excellent point about Clara jumping to conclusions probably based, at least partly, on his dress. That, however, was easily fixed, "Don't be a monk;" he grabbed her hand, entwining his fingers with hers, and began to march towards the TARDIS, "Monks are _not_ cool".

"I thought you made a cool monk, sweetheart," the brunet reassured him, pausing just as they reached the time machine's doors to press a kiss to his cheek, winking, "Just…let's not make it a habit, okay?"

"Only for you, dear," he replied softly, tugging her back towards him so that he could kiss her properly, his other hand wrapping around her waist, pressing her closer to him. Kissing the Hatter was like every single clock in the entire Universe fell silent, time literally did seem to just stop when he was with her, holding her in his arms, the smell of green apples and Gallifrey's long since gone grass filling his nose, his hearts racing, no matter how many times he might have kissed her before. He still felt like he was living in a dream, his previous regenerations had always wondered what this would feel like, sometimes in their more lonely moments they had even allowed themselves to fantasise about it…he was slightly embarrassed to admit that that happened far more then he would ever be willing to even tell the Hatter. But none of those dreams or fantasise had come close to the reality, to have her by his side, his wife and the mother of his child, that was something even he had never dared to have hoped for.

The Hatter was the one to break the kiss, making him sigh slightly reluctantly, though the sight of her red, flustered cheeks and embarrassed, soft smile was more than satisfying, "Honestly, Doctor," she tried to give him a scolding look, but it failed miserably, "We've got things to focus on here, we shouldn't be… _snogging_ …" she dropped her voice to a whisper, as though it was a embarrassing secret, her eyes flickering around the street, before she narrowed her eyes on him again, "I thought I told you to behave".

"I always was a rebel, dear. That's one of the reasons you fell for me, admit it".

"Shut up," she blushed deeper, lightly whacking his arm, though it only made him grin widely, "Focus, Doctor," she managed to give him a stern look, her blush only slightly ruining the effect this time, "You need to get changed…and don't you dare make a suggestive remark".

"Hatter, I'm shocked you think I would ever do such a thing".

"You've spent far too much time around me these past few months, I fear you've caught my cheekiness".

His expression softened and he found himself barely holding himself back from sweeping her into his arms again, "I love you," he said quietly, not caring if it might be completely random or strange for him to say it in this moment, but it simply was the truth, though words seemed so little in comparison to the depths of his feelings for the Hatter. He truly would do anything for her, anything and everything, there was no limit or line in his mind, and for a man who created so many rules in his own mind to keep himself from crossing that invisible line that they both lived by, it said a lot.

"Oh, Doctor…" the Hatter smiled gently, her hazel green eyes looking brighter and softer all at once, "I love you, too. Always and completely…" she squeezed his hand, before sighing, looking rather reluctant, "And as much as I would love for us to continue this little moment, I fear I must ruin it. I'll make it up to you later, I promise".

"Fish fingers and custard?"

"That's pretty much a given, sweetheart".

He grinned as she winked at him, her smile taking on a slightly cheeky quirk. He so wanted to continue this little moment between them, to keep flirting and teasing each other, but she was right, as she usually was. They had work to do. So, rather reluctantly, he unlocked the TARDIS doors and swung them open, gesturing dramatically with a grand bow for the Hatter to go first, before following close behind her as she laughed at his antics. He almost immediately began to strip off the first layer of his robes, untying the belt from around his waist, all the while moving towards a set of stairs leading to the bottom layer of the console, beneath the controls. He managed to get the robes over his head and tossed them carelessly onto the floor, leaving himself in an old, long grey shirt and brown trousers that were tucked into boots.

"Monks," he grumbled, looking up to the Hatter as she leaned over the console railing just above his head, smirking in amusement, "Are _not_ cool," he repeated, deciding that perhaps she did have a good point…those robes were kind of itchy, plus they smelled like wet sheep.

The Hatter laughed again, the sound echoing around the room, "Just get dressed," she told him, cocking her left foot behind her right ankle.

The Doctor gave her a playful salute, which she returned with a mock curtsy, before he whirled on his heel and moved across to where several storage panels were located around the base of the pillar directly beneath the Time Rotor, dropping onto his knees before one of the panels as he threw it open. He carelessly began pulling out shirts and jackets, tossing them right over his shoulder, there was even a couple of dresses and one denim jacket that had once belonged to the Forth Hatter amongst it all, he choose to carefully push them to the side, making a mental note to remind the Time Lady of it later. He smiled brightly as he come across a fez, cheering as he happily sat it on top of his head and looked over his shoulder, finding the Hatter standing just on the stairs behind him, smiling fondly at him.

"Very handsome, sweetheart," she said with an approving nod, "Though, I doubt it will help make Clara more inclined towards viewing us sane individuals if you turn up on her doorstep with that on".

"Ah, right," he sighed, and plucked it off his head…he made a point of carefully sitting it aside, just as he had done with the denim jacket, lest he earn the Hatter's annoyance with throwing hats around. He turned back to the storage panel and plucked out his old, light brown tweed blazer with one hand, while in the other he held up the purple, longer tweed coat that he had worn during their time in Victorian London, "Hmm…" he spun around on his knees, holding them up for the Hatter to see, "Which one, dear?"

The Hatter looked between them both, considering it very seriously, "Well, I am rather fond of the original…" she said thoughtfully, thinking of all the adventures they had gone on with him wearing that old thing, Amy and Rory's faces flashing through her mind. It still pained her to think of them, "However…" she looked back to his face, smiling gently, forcing the memories of their old friends away, "Times have changed, perhaps a new coat should be in order".

"I couldn't agree more, Hatter," he smiled softly, his smile holding a tinge of sadness as he glanced back at his old tweed blazer, before he dropped it, allowing it to pool on the floor amongst the rest of the discarded clothing. He couldn't dwell in the past forever, they had to keep moving forward, they had to, and a new coat…well; it was just another step forward.

The Time Lady turned to head back up the stairs to the main level of the console, allowing him the chance to change properly…she also feared that if she did remain downstairs while he changed, he might just get some ideas in his head again and she, much to her own embarrassment, wasn't completely sure if she would stop him. Her eyes landed on the baby seat still set up on one of the jump seats and her hearts constricted at the sight, a lump forming in her throat. She missed her baby girl so much, she just wanted to hold her tight and never let her out of her sight, even if she's five hundred and more then old enough to take care of herself, the Hatter was certain she would still feel that way. Astra was simply too precious.

Footsteps sounded behind her and she forcibly pulled herself from her thoughts, turning around to find the Doctor dressed in a light blue shirt, black trousers, boots, and his purple coat. He had a small box in his hands, wooden with Gallifreyan symbols carved into the lid…spelling his name, not his true name, but rather his old nickname from childhood: Theta Sigma. He came to stand before her, his expression gentle as he opened the lid to reveal a dark blue bowtie sitting in the depths of the box.

"I thought you could do the honours," he told her.

"Of course, sweetheart," the Hatter nodded, lightly plucking the small tie out of the box. He held still for her as she easily tied it around his neck, before straightening his collar once more and giving him an approving look, "There we go. Perfect".

He smiled widely and carefully sat the box aside on the console, making a mental note to place it somewhere safe later, before he took her hand. They swiftly left the time machine and slipped back outside, exchanging slightly excited smiles as they moved back towards the front door of Clara's house.

"Clara?" he called loudly as they reached the door, pounding his open palm against the wood, before stepping back slightly to look up at the upper stories of the house, "Clara?"

"Hello?" Clara's voice came over the intercom, making the Time Lady grin and wiggle her fingers in the camera's view.

"Ah, see?" the Doctor fell back beside the Hatter, reaching up to lightly slap his cheeks, peering closely into the camera, "Look, it's me! De-monked," he whirled around on the spot, making his coat swirl around him, before he grabbed the Hatter's hand and gave her a spin, too, "Sensible clothes".

The Hatter laughed, not even minding that he had knocked her hat slightly with his impromptu spin, reaching up to absently straighten it, "That's probably debatable, sweetheart," she commented fondly, casting her eyes over his outfit briefly…didn't most human males these days wear T-shirts and jeans? Not that she had ever payed much mind to fashion, in any era or planet, back on Gallifrey she had left it all up to her maid to worry about making sure her clothing and hair was 'fashionable,' her one main instruction was that when she wasn't forced to wear something ceremonial, she liked to wear shades of blue, "Anyway, Clara…" she shook her head, smiling brightly into the camera, "I suppose you could let us in now? Ooh, would it be too much to ask for a cuppa? A nice cuppa and a chat…"

"I don't understand…"

She frowned and glanced at the Doctor, who wore a similar, confused look, "Well, a 'cuppa' is another word for 'tea,'" she said slowly, turning back to eye the camera with a puzzled, strange look. The girl lived in the twenty first century and didn't know about the internet, perhaps she also had no idea about what tea was, too…though that seemed even harder to believe, given that the girl was British, "And usually, when one enters into another's home, they are offered a beverage, in Britain that's typically tea or coffee…"

"Clara," the Doctor cut in with an amused look, seeing that the Hatter was slowly starting to get carried away with her own thoughts, as was so typical of this version, "Could you just open the door?"

"I don't know…" Clara began, her voice hitching very slightly, almost sounding fearful now.

The Hatter tensed, feeling her hearts drop slightly, "Clara," she said sharply, suddenly serious, "Are you okay?"

"…where I am," she finished, her breathe coming in sharp burst now, as though she was fighting back tears, "I don't know where I am. Where am I?" the Hatter gripped the Doctor's hand tighter, swallowing hard, "Please tell me where I am. I don't know where I am!"

The Doctor was already pulling his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and aiming it at the doors lock before Clara could even finish speaking, unlocking the door. The second the door was opened, they threw it open and rushed inside, finding Clara lying on the ground just within the entrance hallway, at the base of the stairs, seemingly unconscious.

"Clara!" the Hatter cried, dropping onto her knees beside the girl, placing a hand on her cheek, turning her head slightly towards them. Her skin was still warm to the touch, but she remained completely unresponsive, her eyes closed and her expression peaceful, as though she was sleeping, "Clara, can you hear me?" she tried again, this time louder, her eyes widening as she realised the girl didn't seem to be breathing…nor did she seem to have a pulse, "Clara!"

"I don't know where I am!" Clara's voice sounded throughout the room, though Clara remained unresponsive. The Doctor quickly began scanning the girl's prone body with the sonic, "I don't know where I am! I don't understand! I don't know where I am! I don't understand! I don't know where I am!"

"Hatter," the Doctor suddenly straightened and grabbed the Time Lady's shoulder, making her look up to find him eyeing something standing on the stairs. It looked like a young girl, dressed in an old fashioned dress, but the back of its head had a small, curved screen on it with Clara's image moving rapidly on it, looking horribly panicked and scared as she looked around desperately for an escape, seeming to be trapped.

"Where am I? I don't know where I am!"

He climbed onto his feet, slowly, still eyeing the strange, obviously robotic girl before glancing back down at Clara. His eyes flickered over to meet the Hatter's eyes and she nodded firmly, her jaw tensed and her eyes darker as they glared coldly at the robot, Clara's cries ringing in their ears. That was all the encouragement he needed before he was flashing the sonic screwdriver at the robot. The robot's disguise as a young girl began to shimmer with a blue light, rippling as slowly, the disguise was stripped away to reveal a metal, silver frame beneath in the shape of a human body, the only thing left behind from the original appearance the screen.

"Walking base station," he breathed, slowly lowering the sonic screwdriver, not taking his eyes off the metal frame, should it suddenly become hostile, "Walking wifi base station. Hovering up data," he slipped the sonic back inside his pocket, looking back to the Hatter, "Hovering up people, dear!"

The Hatter narrowed her eyes on the base station, climbing onto her feet, "Not this time," she said determinedly, "We need a laptop…"

The Doctor dashed for the stairs, not even waiting for her to finish speaking as he slipped past the base station quickly and hurried up the stairs, out of sight, his feet thundering on the stairs as he went. The Time Lady kept watching the base station, making sure she was standing in front of Clara's prone body, her mind already running through exactly what to do to fix this, to put this right and save Clara, because she would not let another Clara Oswin Oswald…or just Clara Oswald, in this case, die for a fourth time. She would not allow it.

"Got it!" the Doctor called as he thundered back down the stairs, practically skipping two steps at a time, which was rather risky with his lack of coordination at the best of times. He had a small laptop clasped in his hand, which he handed to the Hatter as he reached her.

"Excellent, Doctor," the Hatter flashed him a quick grin, full of confidence and determination, ready to go to battle against the very best cyber security just to fix this whole mess, if need be. She flipped the lid open and dropped onto the floor beside the girl, absently crossing her legs beneath her as she settled the laptop on her lap and began typing rapidly, letters and numbers, most utter gibberish to anyone else, flashing across the screen as she worked, "Hold on, Clara," she murmured, the sound of keys clicking only urging her to move faster, "Just you hold on, I'm coming for you…"

She allowed herself a brief glance up at the robot, smiling victoriously as a red error symbol flashed across the screen, the image of Clara trapped now gone as the symbol flashed brightly. She brought her eyes back onto the laptop screen, only absently aware of the Doctor kneeling on the other side of Clara, watching her work with a proud expression on his face. She could feel her fingers starting to cramp, typing so fast that it was amazing that the computer was even managing to still register every click and strike of a key without throwing a fit, and then…she laughed, delighted as a progress bar popped up on her screen, at sixty percent. She pressed 'Enter' and watched in satisfaction as the bar began to decrease rapidly, falling back towards zero.

"Seriously, this is their idea of a security system?" she scoffed, watching the bar falling, "What a joke," she looked up the screen to look down at Clara's still face, her expression softening, "Don't worry, Clara, we've got you, I promise".

Twenty percent, fifteen percent, ten percent…zero percent. The Hatter let out a loud cheer and very nearly accidently threw the laptop off her lap as she punched the air, while the Doctor laughed loudly, looking even prouder as he leaned over Clara to high five the Time Lady…he was rather disappointed he couldn't do more than just high five her, but their hands had barely clapped against each other before the base station hummed back into life. They both looked back up to it, watching warily as a beam of bright blue light shot out of the screen directly into Clara's head. Clara awoke with a strangled gasp, coughing as her body rolled onto her left side.

"Okay," the Doctor quickly leaned over the girl, pushing her hair back out of her face as she coughed, while the Hatter sighed in relief, closing her eyes, allowing herself a moment to just breath again, "It's okay," he murmured comfortingly to Clara, "It's okay. You're fine," he helped roll her back onto her back, Clara's eyes still closed, "You're back," he sighed in relief and caught the Hatter's eye, smiling softly at her, so proud of her, before looking back down at Clara, "Yes, you are. Oh, yes, you are," he even kissed the top of Clara's head before turning back to the Hatter, laughing, "You…you are the bestest, most amazing, incredibly…"

"I get it, sweetheart," the Hatter cut across him quickly, her cheeks burning red and her fingers starting to ache, but she couldn't help the wide, pleased smile on her lips at the sheer look of admiration on his face. She looked back down at Clara, who had slipped unconscious again, "She'll probably sleep for a while," she commented, her eyes soft, "But I shouldn't think there will be any lasting damage done, though it was rather close".

"Very, _very_ close," he nodded grimly, his expression tightening as he glanced back down at Clara. This was important to the Hatter, personal, that made it personal to him, too, "I think we should send them a message," he looked back up to the Time Lady, who lifted an eyebrow curiously, "Let's let them know we're not going to just let this pass".

He held out his hand and the Hatter passed him the laptop, watching as he typed something before he spun the computer around for her to see the message on the screen, the words written in big, bold lettering:

'Under our protection-The Doctor and the Hatter'.

"Well said, sweetheart," the Hatter smiled, giving him an approving nod.

….

Clara's bedroom was at the very top of the house, though the roof did tend to curve in places, it didn't feel closed in, but rather nice and large. One wall was covered in shelving that was full of books, while a single bed was pushed up alongside the shelves. A dressing table with a mirror and perfume bottles littering the top was set off to the side of the room, while slightly around a corner, a desk from where the Doctor had apparently found the laptop was set up, hidden partly from view. Everywhere you looked; there was another detail about Clara's life to be found, something else that gave you a peek into the girl's life. From just a look around her room, she seemed to be a completely normal young woman, nothing overly strange nor out of the ordinary to be found at first glance.

Night had fallen outside while the Doctor had carefully scoped Clara up into his arms and carried her up to the bedroom, settling her onto her bed, before he ducked out of the room. The Time Lady smiled softly as she gently pulled Clara's shoes off, settling them on the floor beside her bed, before she pulled the covers up over her body, unable to resist tucking the blankets around her or gently pushing some of her hair off her face, sitting lightly on the edge of the bed. Sometimes it was very hard not to look at Clara, any version of her, really, and not see Os staring back her. She tried not to see her niece in the girl, she truly did, it wasn't fair for either of them to look at her that way when Os was long since gone, but it was hard.

"You've always been so maternal," the Doctor's voice startled her slightly, making her jump and look over her shoulder to find him standing in the doorway, holding a empty glass and jug of water, along with what looked like a packet of Jammie Dodgers delicately held beneath his arm, so not to crush them. He was watching her with a gentle look in his eyes, "No matter what body, no matter what time in our lives, you've always just had this gentle, softness to you".

"Hardly," the Hatter smiled faintly, slightly embarrassed as she carefully rose from the bed, "As a child, I didn't even think about being a mother or having children".

"I can't imagine you as not being a mother".

She looked back down at Clara's peaceful face, trying to picture her life had she never had her children. They had been her one saving grace during her first marriage, they had made being stuck in a loveless, sometimes abusive marriage bearable, she had even given up the chance to travel with the Doctor to remain with them on Gallifrey. Had she never had them, she probably would have left her first husband the second he dared to so much as touch her without her consent; he had used their children as a means of trying to control her, after all. Had she not of had her children, she would have left Gallifrey much sooner, perhaps without the Doctor, perhaps not, but she knew that while her life would have been very different, it didn't mean that she would have been happier for it. Having her children taught her how to love properly, it taught her to understand that love truly was real and of how powerful and important it was, her mother had always taught her that love wasn't real, but the second she held her eldest son in her arms, all of those lectures had been completely forgotten. Her children had made her a better person; they had made her want to be a better person, for them. They had made her the Hatter.

"To be honest, sweetheart," she said softly, lifting her eyes from Clara's face to look at him, "I don't think I wish to".

He stepped further into the room and carefully placed the jug of water and glass down on Clara's bedside table, giving the Time Lady a sweet smile, as though he knew exactly what she was thinking, which he probably did. He didn't say anything further on the subject, however, perhaps sensing that such a talk would only lead down a sad road, instead he poured a small amount of water from the jug into the glass before pausing, pulling the unopened packet of biscuits out from beneath his arm, eyeing it thoughtfully.

"Plate, Doctor," the Hatter instructed him, plucking the packet out of his hand, looking amused. He clicked his fingers and straightened, kissing her cheek quickly before he was dashing out of the room once more, heading downstairs. She carefully opened the packet and allowed her eyes to roam around the bedroom for a moment, until he returned with an empty plate, another china jug with a floral design on it, and a bunch of random flowers that he had obviously just got from the garden.

"I thought she'd like some flowers, dear," he told her as he noticed her raised eyebrows, sitting the plate down on the table, before placing the flowers inside the china jug and sitting them down, too, "You always say how happy flowers make you feel, so I thought…"

"It's a lovely idea," the Time Lady smiled widely, pressing her lips against his tenderly, pulling back far too quickly for either of their liking. She never stopped being surprised by how sweet and thoughtful he could be, that was how he got his nickname, though. She peeled back the packet on the biscuits and empted the entire packet on the plate, smiling fondly when the Doctor snagged one for himself and took a bite, savouring it like it was a fine wine, "Cheeky," she lightly nudged his side, stealing what was left over of the biscuit and popping it in her mouth, ignoring his mock startled look he shot her.

He swallowed his mouthful, pointing an accusing finger at her, "And you call _me_ cheeky," he huffed, making her wink at him, happily chewing away.

He mock tutted as he wondered over to the bookshelves, peering at them curiously, when he noticed a very old, well-read looking book poking out slightly from amongst the other books. He slipped it out of the shelf and read the cover, the words _101 Places To See_ written across the blue cover, before flipping the pages open, finding a dry maple leaf pressed amongst the pages. On the other side of page from the leaf, written in graphite pencil, a very young Clara had written her name and age in a column down the page, starting at nine years old, all the way down to twenty four, Clara's current age. He smiled softly, before picking up the leaf and holding it up to see, exchanging a look with the Hatter as she moved to peer over his arm at the book. He lifted the leaf up to his lips and licked it, cringing at the odd taste.

"Hmm…" he hummed thoughtfully, narrowing his eyes on the leaf, "There's something funny about this leaf," he murmured to the Time Lady, who was watching him curiously, "Something _very_ funny".

"Let's add that to the growing list, shall we?" the Hatter sighed, casting her eyes over the sleeping girl, before shaking her head, "We really ought to let her sleep in peace, Doctor. Come on".

She gently took the leaf and book from him, slipping it back into the pages of the book as she closed it, putting it back on the shelf. They still needed to figure out exactly who was behind the base station and the fact that someone was out there right now, using the wifi to hover up people. The warning the Doctor sent them should keep them squabbling for a little while, but they would still need to work quickly if they wanted the advantage.

….

The Hatter sat back in her brightly coloured, red and blue striped lawn chair on the footpath outside the TARDIS, her fingers clicking against the keys of the laptop that they had 'borrowed' from Clara for the time being, trying to figure out who was behind this whole mess in the first place. Next to her, leaning partly out of his own brightly coloured lawn chair, was the Doctor, his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth as he fiddled with the partly dissembled base station robot that they had dragged outside with them. So far, none of the neighbours had gotten nosy and come out to see what was going on, it wasn't that late in the evening, but then again, it did seem like a very quiet street. If it wasn't for the mystery of Clara Oswald and the wifi being turned into a weapon, seemingly, it would be a horribly dull place to live, in the Time Lady's mind.

"Hello?" Clara's voice called suddenly, and the Time Lords instantly stopped what they were doing to look up to find the girl leaning out of her bedroom window above them, eyeing them curiously, now wearing a grey cardigan over her dress as she rested her forearms against the windowsill. She didn't seem overly excited to see them, frowning vaguely.

"Hello," the Doctor replied brightly, dropping the cord of wiring he had been toying with, connected to the robot as he rose from his chair. The Hatter flashed Clara a comforting smile, carefully sitting the laptop down on the footpath by her chair as she also stood, "Are you alright?"

"I'm in bed," she said, still looking vaguely puzzled and confused.

"Well, technically, you _were_ in your bed," the Hatter agreed, giving her a cheeky smile, "Now, you're looking at us through your window…" she blushed slightly as Clara blinked slowly at her, clearing her throat, "Um…yes, bed," her smile turned awkward, realising that Clara wasn't really in the mood for her sense of humour right now, "You seemed to be having a pleasant sleep".

"I don't remember going".

"It's a common side effect," the Time Lady nodded sympathetically.

"What did I miss?"

"Oh, quite a lot, actually," the Doctor told her, before quickly reaching into his inner breast pocket of his coat, fishing out a small notepad, his own handwriting mixed with the Hatter's neat, cursive scrawl jotted down the pages, "Angie called," he looked back up to Clara, "She's going to stay over at Nina's. Apparently that's all completely fine and you shouldn't worry like you always do," he glanced back at the page, shaking his head, "For God's sake get off her back".

"Ah, teenage girls," the Hatter smiled, but it was tinged with sadness. She thought back to her eldest two daughters, the first, Abila, had been so focused on her schooling, so full of ambition, the Time Lady found that she had little need to worry over her ever getting into trouble, but her second daughter had been the quiet, sensitive one. Alessa had been just like the Hatter as a girl, only she hadn't had a friend like the Doctor to pull her out of herself, she had been the one that the Hatter had possibly worried for the most, her boys could more then take care of themselves, but Alessa had just seemed to drift through school, her grades had always been excellent and she never once got into any trouble, her professors adored her, in fact, but the Hatter knew well enough that there was more to life than just school and making others happy. She hadn't wanted her sweet, sensitive little girl to go down that path, living for others, rather than herself. It had been what she had feared would happen, someone like Alessa would have been so easily used by others, and there was so many people on Gallifrey during that time that would have used a girl like her to their own advantage.

"Hatter…" the Doctor's voice broke through her thoughts, making the Time Lady almost flinch as she looked up into his concerned face, his hand lightly touching her lower back.

She took a deep breath, "Just…thinking," she muttered, her expression slightly strained, Alessa's face flashing through her mind…big blue eyes, black hair, pale skin, she had looked like a miniature copy of the Hatter's first body as a girl. But Alessa was gone now, so rather than allow herself dwell on her memory any longer, she forced herself to fix a bright smile onto his lips and looked up to Clara, who was eyeing her with a curious frown, "Oh, by the way, your father called," she informed her lightly, not even needing to glance at the notepad, she'd spent a good two hours listening to the man chat and complain, "We had a lovely chat about the government…well, he mostly talked, I listened, but he did seem to be awfully cross about them".

"I've got several pages on it," the Doctor added, flicking through a couple of pages in the notepad, made up completely of notes that the Hatter had taken during the phone call, just in case anything important should be included, "The Hatter said we'd look into it," he turned the page, his eyes running down the next list of things they had done, just to try and occupy themselves…his suggestion of ducking back to the TARDIS for a couple of hours had been turned down by a blushing Hatter, "She also fixed the rattling noise in the washing machine, while I indexed the kitchen cupboards and optimised the photosynthesis in the main flowerbed…don't worry, I did that myself," he glanced at the Hatter, grinning as her cheeks turned pink, "If I'd left it to the Hatter, the front garden would be in flames by now…"

"Shut up," the Hatter mumbled, embarrassed. She wasn't that bad at gardening…okay, no, that was the biggest lie in the Universe right there, she was frankly ridiculously bad at anything gardening related.

He simply kissed her cheek, looking rather pleased with himself as he glanced back at his notepad, "Oh, and we also assembled quadricycle in the garage".

"Assembled a what?" Clara stared at them, completely blankly.

"We found a disassembled quadricycle in the garage".

"I don't think you did".

The Doctor blinked slowly and looked at the Hatter, their eyes lighting up in matching delight, "We invented the quadricycle!" he whispered excitedly to her, whishing Astra had been there to witness their combined genius at work, "Ha!"

The Hatter gave him a fond look, having a pretty good idea what he was thinking. Astra truly would have found the whole experience great fun, even if the Time Tot probably would have been more of a hindrance to their assembling of the bike then a help. She looked back up to Clara when she realised that the girl hadn't spoken, finding her frowning distractedly off into the distance, "Clara?" she called up to her, worried.

Clara's gaze focused back onto them, but she still looked distracted, as though she was lost in her own thoughts, "What happened to me?" she asked, hugging herself almost.

"Don't you remember?" the Doctor eyed her, any trace of humour gone now.

"I was scared, _really_ scared," she replied, shaking her head slowly, her eyes growing distant again, "Didn't know where I was".

The Time Lady nodded, watching her closely, "But you do now?" she questioned gently, wanting to make sure that no lasting damage had been done to her cognitive abilities. The mind, especially the human mind, was such a delicate place, meddling with it could cause so much harm.

She looked back to them, "Yes".

"Well then…" the Doctor gave her a bright smile, suddenly cheerful, while the Hatter seemed to relax slightly beside him, "You should go to sleep, because you're safe now. I promise…"

" _We_ promise," the Hatter cut in, her tone firm, looking back up to meet Clara's dark brown eyes with a serious expression on her face. She had already failed to protect three previous versions of this woman in the past, she would not fail a fourth, "And I always keep my promises," she allowed her face to soften, giving her a soothing smile, "Sleep well, Clara".

The Time Lords turned back to their seats and sat back down, while the sound of the window closing sounded from above them. The Hatter reached down beside her chair to pick up the laptop, settling it back on her knees, when the window suddenly swung open again with a faint click, making them look up in surprise to see Clara eyeing them thoughtfully as she leaned back out through the window.

"Are you guarding me?" she looked between them.

The Doctor glanced at the Time Lady, "Well…yes," he nodded as the Hatter gave him a faint smile, looking back up to Clara, "Yes, we are".

Clara laughed faintly, smiling down at them, "Are you seriously going to sit down there all night?"

"Well, where else would we go?" the Hatter raised an eyebrow, giving her a small smile, winking, "It's a lovely evening, we're in the fresh air…shame about all the light pollution blocking the stars, but you can't have everything, I suppose," she shrugged her shoulder carelessly, looking back up to her, "We're here for the night".

"Well then," she gave them an almost challenging little smile, reaching to grab the windows handle, "I'll have to come to you".

And with that, she disappeared back inside the house, shutting the window behind her.

The Doctor jumped onto his feet, staring up at the window with wide eyes, "Eh?" he whirled back around to look at the Hatter, finding her shaking her head in amusement, "That wasn't…that's not part of the plan," he pouted vaguely.

"When have most of our plans ever worked out they way we expected, sweetheart?" the Hatter smirked, reaching up to lightly grab the back of his coat and tugging him back down, onto his seat. She turned her attention back onto the laptop, typing away while they waited to Clara, leaving the Doctor to fuss over the dissembled base station, though he kept shooting glances back over towards the houses front door. Ten minutes passed before the door finally swung open and Clara emerged, carrying one of the kitchen dining room chairs in one hand, and three teacups in the other, now wearing a dark grey coat over her dress. She moved to join them, somehow managing to not spill any tea as she went. The Hatter gave her a warm smile, looking up from the laptop, "You have quite a lovely home," she told her, "The streets very…quiet, though".

"It isn't mine," Clara informed her, sitting her chair down just slightly off to the left of the Hatter's own chair, holding out one of the cups towards the brunet, who accepted it with a happy smile, "I'm a friend of the family".

"But you look after the kids," the Doctor remarked, nodding as he eyed her thoughtfully, "Oh, yes, you're a governess, aren't?" he turned to the Hatter, his eyes lighting up, "Just like…"

"Doctor," the Hatter said sharply, nudging his side. He quickly snapped his mouth shut and silently accepted the teacup Clara offered him, exchanging a look with the Time Lady.

Clara raised her eyebrows, her eyes flickering between them, "Just like what?" she asked curiously, moving to sit down on the chair she had brought out with her, holding her own cup in her hands. She sat down backwards on the chair, curling one leg beneath her as she brought her hands to rest on top of the back of the chair.

"Just like…" he dragged his eyes off the Hatter, lifting his cup up towards his mouth, "…I thought you probably would be," he finished hurriedly, taking a sip of his tea, avoiding looking directly in Clara's eyes.

Thankfully, the girl didn't seem to notice that he was lying, in fact she already seemed to be moving off the subject, "Are you going to explain what happened to me?" she questioned, her eyebrows raised expectedly.

"Right, of course," the Hatter lowered her own cup from her lips, swallowing her mouthful as she glanced back at the laptop sitting on her knees, narrowing her eyes on the screen, "It would seem that something very strange is going on with the wifi," she lowered her voice as she spoke, lifting her eyes back up to meet Clara's, unable to help being just a little dramatic, "Somehow, the wifi has become sentient, it's not just a string of code or numbers any longer, but rather something far more complex, something… _living_ ".

Clara shifted slightly on her chair, looking caught between being amused by the Hatter's antics and interested, "Okay…" she said slowly.

"This whole world is swimming in wifi," the Doctor began, gesturing around them as he spoke, "We're living in wifi soup. Suppose something got inside it," he reached over and lightly tapped his finger on top of the laptop screen, not looking away from Clara as he spoke, "Suppose there was something living in the wifi, harvesting human minds. _Extracting_ them. Imagine that," his voice grew softer, looking back to the Hatter, her expression grim, "Human souls trapped like flies in the world-wide web".

"Trapped for eternity," the Time Lady sighed, shaking her head sadly, "Lost and alone, screaming out for help".

Clara was silent for a long moment, considering their words, before she frowned slightly, "Isn't that basically Twitter?" she commented lightly, lifting her cup up to her mouth to take a sip.

The corner of the Hatter's mouth rose, she could appreciate someone trying to make light of a horrible situation. She turned her attention back onto the laptop, narrowing her eyes on the screen as she brought up the wifi connection list, even from out on the pavement, she could see the houses wifi connection, labelled under the family name, but beneath that, there was several other possible connections to make, each one made up of odd symbols that even the Hatter had never seen before. She moved the laptop slightly so that the Doctor could see the symbols, too, but judging by the blank expression on his face, not even he had any idea what to make of them, and he was the expert on languages. And then…another thought crossed her mind, Clara's joke about Twitter…

"Wait a second," the Hatter's head snapped up, staring at Clara, realisation hitting her. There was no way that Clara ought to be able to make that joke, no way she should have a clue what Twitter even was, if the girl was so inept in relation to anything computer or internet related, but yet…she had managed to make that joke and do so correctly, "You just made a joke about Twitter".

She looked completely blank, swallowing her mouthful, "Yeah, so?" she looked between them warily now, the Doctor and the Hatter sharing a quick look, "What's those faces for?"

"A computer can hack another computer," the Doctor said slowly, pointing at her, "A living, sentient computer…" his eyes grew distant, considering it, "Maybe that could hack people. Edit them. Re-write them".

"Why would you say that?"

"Clara," the Hatter leaned slightly towards the girl, her expression very, very serious, "You, the girl who was lucky to even know how to turn her computer on but a few hours ago, just made a joke about Twitter".

"Oh," Clara said softly, glancing down at the pavement, before her eyes widened. Her head snapped back up to the Time Lords, realisation filling her face, "Oh, _that's_ weird," she frowned slightly, while the Hatter nodded quickly, "I know all about computers now in my head," she pointed up to her temple as she spoke, "Where did that come from?"

The Doctor frowned deeply, "You were uploaded for a while," he said, eyeing her intently, "Wherever you were, you brought something extra back…"

The Hatter licked her lips nervously, her eyes falling onto the laptop sitting her lap, "Something tells me that they won't allow that to happen," she remarked quietly, lifting her gaze up off the laptop, peering carefully around the darkened street, feeling her hearts starting to beat faster, "You might not have been uploaded for very long, but it would have been long enough to develop a connection. They'll know just where we are, right now…" her voice trailed off as she caught sight of something, her hand grabbing the Doctor's arm.

Standing beneath a lamppost on the other side of the street, just within the golden pool of light, stood a male figure. He seemed to be facing them directly, his face obscured from view, but the way he was standing was all wrong, too stiff, to still. He was another base station, disguised as a person, just like the one that had tried to attack Clara had been. Not taking their eyes off the figure, both Time Lords rose from their chairs, the Hatter carefully closing the lid of the laptop, tightening her hold on the device, should they need to start running.

"Clara, you and us," the Doctor said urgently, reaching to take the Hatter's hand, "Inside that box, now," he gestured back towards the TARDIS, not taking his eyes off the robot.

"I'm sorry?" Clara scoffed slightly from behind them, apparently oblivious.

"Please, Clara," the Hatter sighed as they spun back around to face her, resisting against the urge to close her eyes in exasperation. She reached out to grab the girl's arm, tugging her up from the chair, while Clara blinked at her in confusion, "Just…get in the box," she gave Clara her a strained smile, letting go of her hand, "Please, trust me and just do as we say without questioning it…even though I imagine that's going to be quite difficult".

She eyed her, before glancing back over to the TARDIS, "The _three_ of us?" she frowned, turning back to the Time Lords, just as the Time Lords moved to open the time machines doors.

The Doctor paused, spinning back around before the doors, "Oh, trust us," he tried again, pointing with his free hand towards the TARDIS, "You'll understand once we're in there," he turned to open the doors once more.

"I bet I will".

His eyes widened and he turned back towards her, appalled by the implication of her words, "Clara, please!" he exclaimed, his voice rising in pitch, while the Hatter groaned and reached up to rub her forehead with her free hand.

"What is that box, anyway?" she continued, narrowing her eyes on them, as though the Doctor hadn't spoken, "Why have you got a box?"

"Clara, can we not do this now?" the Hatter dropped her hand from her face, giving her an almost pleading look, just wanting to grab the girl and shove her into the TARDIS…she was acutely aware of how exposed they were right now, standing on the footpath of the street, while that robot watched them from just the other side of the street. It could attack them at any second and Clara just had to be difficult, didn't she? It was just so human of her, something she probably would feel fond of, if it wasn't such a pressing and dangerous situation right now.

Clara raised her eyebrows, smirking at them, "Is it like a snogging box?" she asked, completely ignoring the Time Lady's plea.

"Clara…" the Doctor began, before he paused, staring at her in disbelief as it hit him just what she had said, "A snogging box?" he glanced thoughtfully at the Time Lady, "Well, now that you mention it…"

"Doctor, hush," the Time Lady muttered quickly, her cheeks growing pink, "This is not the time, you should not be encouraging her right now…" she blinked, her eyes growing distant, "And I can't believe _I_ just said that".

"Is that what you do, bring a booth?" Clara looked them up and down; still smirking teasingly as she lifted her cup up towards her lips, "There is such a thing as too keen," she took a sip of her tea.

The Hatter, despite herself, couldn't help laughing at that as she glanced at the Doctor's, Clara probably didn't even realise just how true her words were…when her laughter died in her throat, noticing that up and down the street, lights began switching on in the neighbouring houses. It was too much for it to be merely a coincidence. She tightened her grip of the Doctor's hand and glanced at him, finding the Doctor watching the lights switching on, too, his expression tense.

"Clara," he said firmly, "Look around you".

Clara lowered her cup from her mouth, looking between them before she slowly turned towards the other houses, watching as more lights switched on up and down the street, "What's going on?" she asked, finally seeming alarmed, "What's happening? Is the wifi switching on the lights?"

"Not the wifi, no," the Hatter shook her head, looking quickly back over towards the robot, still standing beneath the lamppost, watching them from afar, "Rather the wifi is switching on the people".

Across the street from them, they watched as the robot's head began to spin right around, until the back of its head was facing them, revealing the glowing blue screen.

"What is that thing?" Clara breathed, staring at the base station, finally seeming to have noticed it.

"It's a base station," the Time Lady informed her, eyeing it carefully, "You may vaguely recall encountering one earlier, right before you collapsed".

She shook her head, "I saw a little girl".

"It must have taken an image from your subconscious," the Doctor remarked thoughtfully, while the Hatter nodded absently along with him, "Thrown it back at you. Ah!" he suddenly reached up with his free left hand, using his open palm to slap his forehead, "Active camouflage," he froze, his eyes widening as he slowly looked back to the Hatter. The Time Lady met his eyes, her own widening in realisation, "They could be anywhere," he finished in a whisper, his eyes slowly moving around the rest of the street.

"Disguised as anyone," the Hatter breathed, looking around carefully, half-convinced something was going to come leaping out of the shadows around them.

"Doctor?" Clara called suddenly, "Hatter?" the Time Lords turned to find her pointing towards the city, marked by glittering dots of lights amongst the inky blackness of the night, but even as they stood there and watched, they could see the lights being switched off, leaving nothing but darkness behind, "What's going on?" she asked them confusedly, "Our lights are on and everyone else's off. Why?"

The Doctor and the Hatter, however, were looking up at the sky, listening to the sound of a distant droning noise that seemed to thunder through the clouds towards them. They glanced at each other, their expression wary, "Some planes have wifi," he remarked softly, squeezing the Hatter's hand in his.

"Sorry?" Clara's head snapped around to look at him, startled.

"Well, just think about it," the Hatter gazed up at the sky, licking her lips nervously, "They've lit this place up like a giant target sign, what's the best way to see a large target like that?" she looked back to Clara, "The sky".

The noise grew louder above them and they quickly turned their attention back onto the sky, Clara's eyes widening at the sight of a jet plane swopping out from beneath a bank of clouds, flying directly towards them, flying lower and lower as it approached. There was no mistake behind the intent.

The Doctor's entire body tensed, edging slightly closer to the Hatter's side, "You, me, and Clara," he began, forcing himself to sound calm, "Box, right now," he didn't wait for Clara to argue, turning on his heel and dashing for the TARDIS, pulling the Hatter along with him, as she grabbed Clara's hand and tugged her along, too. He pushed the door open and the three of them hurried into the console room, "Yes!" he called over his shoulder, reluctantly dropping the Time Lady's hand as he moved to dance around the controls, "It's a spaceship!"

"And yes, it is bigger on the inside," the Hatter added, moving straight for the console, dropping Clara's hand as the doors swung shut behind them. Clara gave a loud yelp, coming to a sharp stop just on the ramp, staring around in disbelief, "No, it's not a trick or an illusion, but we'll chat about it later," she let go of the Doctor's hand as she began working at the controls, "We've got to concentrate now".

"But…" Clara gasped, clutching the railing surrounding the console, though she still managed to hold onto her cup of tea. She was staring around the room, taking it all in, looking as though she couldn't comprehend what she was witnessing. Usually, the Hatter would have found it amusing, but she was busy typing something into the controls, only allowing herself a brief glance towards the girl, "But…but…but it's…"

"Shut up, please," the Doctor told her, busy flicking switches on one of the control panels, trying to focus, "Short hops are difficult".

The Time Lady sighed, "Type 40's aren't really meant for short distance flights," she said grimly, reaching out to lightly pat the Time Rotor.

"… _bigger_ on the inside," Clara edged around the console, still looking around the room as she went. She didn't seem to have heard a word that they had said, far to boggled by the impossibility of the room, "Actually _bigger_ ".

The Hatter did laugh at that, when the Doctor pulled a lever and the entire room gave a sharp jolt as they landed, making Clara squeal again. It really was rather impressive that she still managed to keep a hold of her cup; it was just so very British. The Doctor flashed the Time Lady a grin and quickly moved around the console to her, grabbing her hand.

"Right, come on!" he said quickly as they moved to run for the doors.

"We're going to go back out there?" Clara exclaimed, coming to a stop just within the entrance of the room, giving them a positively alarmed look.

"It's fine," the Hatter reassured her, coming to a stop before the girl, giving her a comforting smile, "We're not on the street anymore and this…" her smile grew wider, her eyes lighting up with pride as she waved her free hand around the room, "Is no ordinary box, it's a spaceship. We've flown away".

"Away from the plane?"

The Doctor exchanged an amused look with the Time Lady, reaching for the doorhandle, "Not exactly," he replied, before he pushed the door open and they hurried outside, stumbling slightly as they found themselves standing on the descending plane, flying on a downward trajectory, which did rather make standing upright a little tricky as he accidently tripped sideways into one of the back rows, while the Hatter gave a startled yelp and barely managed to catch herself on the back of one of the chairs.

Clara gasped loudly as she fell back against the door of a cupboard, her mouth falling open in shock, realising where they were now standing, "How did we get here?" she cried.

"It's a ship," the Doctor called loudly over the noise of the plane's engines and the shaking, taking the Hatter's hand as she tugged him back onto his own feet, flashing him a smile as he caught his balance, "The Hatter told you. It's all very sciency!"

"Come on!" the Hatter tugged him forward, off down the aisle towards the cockpit of the plane, ignoring her askew hat as she battled to keep moving against the pull of gravity.

"This is the plane?" Clara hurried after them; gripping the back of seats as they went, one-handed, "The _actual_ plane?" she shook her head in disbelief, looking around at all the people slumped in seats up and down the plane, "Are they all dead?"

"Just sleeping," the Time Lady said over her shoulder, raising her voice to be head, narrowly avoiding accidently hitting one of the passengers in the face as she grabbed at the back of their chair to keep her balance, "It's the wifi again, they've been put to sleep by it, but they'll be fine," she gritted her teeth as the force seemed to be getting harder and harder to fight against, her ears popping painfully, "Let's focus on stopping this plane from crashing, okay?"

They managed to reach the cockpit door and she edged slightly sideways, giving the Doctor a clear view of the door as he aimed the sonic screwdriver at the lock, unlocking the door. The plane gave a sharp jolt, just as the door swung open, and both Time Lords fell against each other, wincing as the Hatter accidently elbowed the Doctor's side, but they managed to untangle themselves, stumbling through into the cramped cockpit, finding the pilot and his co-pilot slumped unconscious in their seats. The ground was growing increasingly closer, heading towards the only street still lit up in the dark.

"What is going on?" Clara asked shakily as she stumbled after them, gripping the edge of the doorframe, watching as the Time Lords began working on the controls, the Doctor flashing the sonic screwdriver over them, "Is this real? Please, tell me what is happening!"

"I'm the Doctor and she's the Hatter. We're aliens from outer space, we're a thousand years old, we've both got two hearts, and I can't fly a plane!" he suddenly threw her a quick, slightly sarcastic look, "Can you?"

"No!"

"Hatter!" he looked urgently to the Time Lady, "Please tell me you've got something spinning around that brilliant, beautiful head of yours?"

"Um…" the Hatter gave him a strained smile, turning back to the controls, "Well, I mean…it's kind of like a spaceship, right?" she muttered, more to herself then to him, feeling strangely nervous as her eyes flew over the controls before her. Honestly…she had never flown a plane like this before, not from this era, anyway, but the same principles should apply… _right_? Oh, blimey, they never did get around to that biplane lesson in 1911, did they? No, they kind of got distracted by the whole almost dying and sending Astra away thing, they probably really should look into doing that lesson, once this was all over. Her eyes landed on the one control that looked vaguely like a steering wheel and she lunged for it, biting her lip as she desperately tried to pull it upwards, grimacing against the resistance she could feel against the action, "Come on, come on…!"

Behind her, the Doctor's arms circled her and he reached around her to grab the steering wheel, too, trying to help give her just a bit more strength. Through the large windscreen, they could see the tops of houses growing closer and closer, the pressure within the cabin pressing against their skulls painfully, until it felt like their heads were going to explode, just as the plane began to level out and they flew right over the roofs, the Doctor and the Hatter laughing loudly as the Time Lady began to fly the plane upwards, grinning proudly as the pressure began to lesson. The Doctor gave a loud cheer, dropping his chin onto the Hatter's shoulder, letting go of the steering wheel to hug her to his front, instead.

"That was brilliant, dear!" he said proudly, kissing her cheek as the Hatter sighed in relief, "Would a victory roll be too showy offy?"

"Just a little bit, yeah," the Hatter grinned, ignoring her aching fingers as she let go of the steering wheel, having been gripping it rather tightly. He flashed her a matching smile before he reluctantly released her, aiming the sonic screwdriver up at the controls covering the ceiling. Movement out of the corner of her eye made her glance at the pilot sitting in the chair beside them, slowly coming too.

"What the hell's going on?" he groaned slightly, peering up at them with blurry eyes.

"Well, I'm blocking your wifi, so you're waking up, for a start," the Doctor informed him lightly, giving him a smile, while the poor man could only look confused as he slowly tried to wake himself up more.

"Nice set of wheels…or rather wings, you've got here," the Hatter leaned casually against the back of the man's chair, "And as fun as it's been to take it for a spin, I think I'll let you take control now," she winked at him, earning herself a startled look, which she ignored as she grabbed the Doctor's hand, "Shell we, sweetheart?"

The Doctor pressed a kiss to her cheek and turned to lead the way back out of the cockpit, finding that the rest of the passengers were starting to blink awake, too. Absently, the Hatter grabbed Clara's hand on the way out, tugging the girl along after them. And no one would ever know just how close hundreds of people just came to dying, just the way they liked it.

 _ **Finished, and it didn't take me five months to complete it, either. I would have finished it even sooner, but I actually got a new kitten on Easter morning, he's actually the kitten of my brother's cat, so it's kind of like keeping him in the family. Would you guys like to see pictures? He's just so adorable, kind of like a grey snow leopard. But anyway, if anyone's had a kitten before, I'm sure you'll understand that they do rather like to get into mischief the moment you try to concentrate on anything, plus he rather enjoys watching my laptop screen and grabbing at my hands when I'm trying to type. Cheeky, thing. The Hatter would approve.**_

 _ **So, back to the chapter, no Astra for this chapter and, likely not for a while, unless I have the Time Lords dropping by at the start or end of a chapter to check up on her, but I just couldn't imagine the Time Lords allowing Clara around Astra until they knew for certain that she's no risk to anyone, she's popped up four times now, three times she's died soon after and she has a close connection to the Hatter, given their history, I just couldn't imagine them being trusting enough with their daughter to let her be around Clara, I just couldn't. But without a toddler in toe, it did give me the chance to be just a little more suggestive with our Time Lords then I've been able to be, plus I feel like it's been far too long since I last got to focus on the two of them being just…them, flirty and teasing with each other. I've missed it so much.**_

 _ **I hope you guys liked it, tell me what you thought. Please review :)**_


	15. Chapter 15 The Bells of Saint John, P2

_**The Bells of Saint John, Part 2**_

The Doctor and the Hatter moved around the TARDIS controls, though at a far more relaxed and casual pace then they had earlier, the Time Lady still feeling rather pleased with how successful they had been with preventing a plane crash. She had already made a mental note to make sure that she and the Doctor did learn how to properly fly a plane, both the first models and up to the more modern versions, before even planes had become something of an obsolete technology into the distant future of humanity. She felt more confidant now that if the same situation did present itself to them, that she could get them out safely, but still, it had been quite some time since the Hatter had felt so out of depth in the middle of an adventure. She _hated_ that feeling.

She absently hit a button on the console panel before her, her eyes flickering over to Clara, who was sitting on one of the jump seats as she nursed her tea. Clara still looked rather stunned by everything that had happened in the past ten minutes, her hair was slightly mused and sticking out slightly, but Clara seemed to preoccupied to pay her appearance much mind right now. The Hatter turned her gaze back onto the controls before the girl could catch her watching her, but she caught the Doctor's eye instead as he stood on the panel across from her, peering around the Time Rotor to her. He met her eyes and gave her a small nod, as if to tell her that they would figure this out. They would find out the truth about Clara and then, once they knew what was truly going on, if they could trust her, they could be properly reunited with Astra. But until then, they simply could not afford the risk, no matter how slim.

"Is that a baby seat?" Clara asked suddenly, making the Hatter instantly tense, still looking at the Doctor. It was almost as though Clara had read their minds, though when the Time Lady carefully cleared her expression and turned around to face the girl, it was to find her eyeing the TARDIS blue seat strapped to the jump seat across from where Clara was sitting.

"Yes," the Doctor said, his voice sounding perfectly calm, casual, even, though the Hatter could see how carefully he was controlling his reaction. He was still turned away from Clara as he spoke, pretending to be focusing on the controls, "It belongs to our daughter, Astra".

"You…you have a _daughter_?"

"Quite so," the Hatter nodded, spinning around to lean back against the control panel, fixing a small smile onto her face as Clara stared at them, looking rather surprised.

Clara slowly took a sip from her cup, glancing curiously at the seat, "Where is she now?" she looked back over to the Hatter.

"Some friends of ours are babysitting," she replied, hoping that Clara would drop the subject, if she kept the answers rather simple. She and the Doctor had agreed that if Clara was to ask about Astra at all, then they would not lie and say that they didn't have a daughter, but nor would they go into detail, not too much, anyway. As far as the Hatter was concerned, she wanted to trust Clara, her instincts told her that the girl could be trusted, that she was merely an innocent in all of this, but there was some things that even she couldn't trust her instincts in, and her daughter's safety in regards to this was simply one of those things. She would not take any risks, not when the safety of her only living child was possibly at risk.

Clara eyed her for a moment, as though she sensed that the Time Lady was not overly keen on discussing the subject, lifting her cup back up to her lips and taking a large sip, "Okay," she said as she swallowed her mouthful. She climbed out of her seat and moved to stand next to the Hatter, placing her cup on top of the small ledge that ran along the top of the control panels, above the controls themselves, "When are you going to explain to me what the hell is going on?"

The Doctor came to stand on the other side of the Time Lady, suddenly looking completely calm and at ease, back to his normal, bright self again, "How about breakfast, dear?" he raised his eyebrows, wrapping an arm around the Hatter's waist.

"Excellent idea, sweetheart," the Hatter grinned at him, shoving aside any concerns about Clara, "Breakfast, I'm positively starving. I would love a good, proper English muffin with strawberry jam," she turned to Clara, "How about you, Clara?"

"What?" Clara gave them a startled look, just as the Doctor reached out and pulled a lever, making the entire room shake as they came to a stop. He and the Hatter began to head for the doors, Clara trailing right behind them, frowning, "I ain't waiting till breakfast!"

"It's a time machine," the Doctor reminded her, spinning around as they reached the doors, giving her an amused look, "You never have to wait for breakfast," he whirled back around with the Hatter, his coat flaring around him as they pulled the doors open, the sound of clapping washing over them as they stepped outside into the sunlight, right by the South Bank. People were gathering around them, clapping and cheering their sudden arrival, obviously thinking it to be some sort of elaborate street performance, "Thank you, thank you," he smiled brightly around at their audience, exchanging a delighted look with the Time Lady, "Yes, magic blue box!"

The Hatter stepped away from the Doctor and did a dramatic curtsey, her knees just shy of brushing the pavement beneath her before she rose gracefully, whipping her hat off her head in the process, "If you would all be so kind, ladies and gentlemen," she called over the noise, holding her hat out before her with her brightest, most brilliant smile lighting up her face, "A small donation, if you please, no matter how small…" she winked at an elderly man as he moved to drop some coins into her hat, "We'll even accept a good joke, if you know any".

"Ah, good idea, dear," the Doctor leaned closer to the Time Lady, while more and more people began to drop coins into her hat, just as Clara wondered out of the TARDIS to join them, looking around at all the people in amazement, "We'll need enough for breakfast," he pressed a kiss to her cheek, "Just popping back to the garage".

The Time Lady gave him a soft smile, just as he went to turn back to the time machine, "Remember, Doctor, to the right," she reminded him with a knowing look, and he clicked his fingers at her before disappearing back inside the TARDIS.

"Wait…" Clara blinked, looking quickly back to the Hatter, "Garage?"

"Bigger on the inside," she winked playfully at her, before turning her attention back onto the very generous crowd still dropping coins into her hat, "Honestly, I couldn't even tell you how many rooms the old girl has, I doubt even the Doctor knows exactly. We both still get lost, though…" she paused, giving Clara a mock stern look, "Don't go telling any of our old companions that, it's not always wise to let people think they were right".

She laughed at that, glancing down into the black and pink, two tone hat held in the Hatter's palm, a number of coins littering the bottom, "So is this what you guys do for money?" she raised her eyebrows cheekily, "Put on street shows?"

"Oh, this is more a hobby; sometimes we'll just rob a cash machine".

"I…can't even tell if you're joking right now," Clara eyed her closely, but the Hatter simply laughed, not answering, "So…" she continued, looking around the sunlit street they stood on, "This is tomorrow, then. Tomorrow's come early".

The Hatter laughed at that, giving her an amused look, but just as she went to answer, there was a loud roar of an engine from behind them and they turned, just in time to see the Doctor drive out of the TARDIS on a large, black motorbike with a matching sidecar attached to the side. The Doctor had even managed to find himself an old fashioned helmet with goggles and a pair of leather driving gloves. He brought the bike to a stop alongside the Time Lady and Clara, while the human girl blinked in surprise.

"No, it came at the usual time," he told the girl, perfectly calm and casual, "We just took a short cut," he grinned as the crowd that had gathered around them broke into applause, clearly thinking it was yet another magic trick, "Thank you, thank you!" he called around to them, some people had even taken their phones out and snapped pictures and videos of the display. He held up his finger, "Tomorrow, a camel".

The Hatter gave the audience anther dramatic curtsey, before straightening and moving too quickly close the TARDIS doors, before joining Clara back by the bike, emptying the coins from her hat into her palm as she moved. They had managed to earn themselves quite a tidy little sum, she almost couldn't hold all the coins as she stuffed them into her jacket pocket…hopefully they wouldn't get lost amongst all the rest of the junk she probably already had stuffed into there. She'd worry about that later, however, grabbing a bright pink helmet out of the bottom of the sidecar and a plain black one, tossing the black one over to Clara, who caught it with an excited smile.

"No leather jacket, sweetheart?" the Time Lady asked, slightly disappointed as she finished clipping her helmet on on top of her head, her lovely hat tucked safely away inside her jacket. She swung her leg over the back of the bike, wrapping her arms around his middle as she got comfortable.

"Well, I did think about bringing out my old one," he said, turning his head slightly to try and look back to her, while Clara climbed into the sidecar, putting her own helmet on, "But I don't think he would have approved very much of me getting around in it. Besides, dear…" the corner of his mouth rose, "You look so much better in yours then I would, I couldn't possibly compete".

She smiled softly at that, hugging him tighter, "Oh, sweetheart," she murmured, resting her chin on top of his right shoulder, her lips just shy of brushing against his ear, "You never cease to amaze me how you manage to turn a simple remark into a compliment".

He swallowed very slightly, and she felt him lean back slightly into her, "It's a gift".

She laughed, more amused by the obvious affect her mere closeness to him was having on him, then his words. Even after all these years together, he still acted as though they were newlyweds, she found it adorable. She shook her head and pulled back slightly, though she was still probably sitting closer to him then what she truly needed to be sitting, glancing quickly over to Clara, who seemed to be trying to look anywhere but at them. Okay, so perhaps they needed to remember to be a little more discreet, Amy and Rory had each other to make little moments like this a little less awkward, poor Clara just had herself and the last thing that Hatter wanted to do was make anyone feel uncomfortable. Ever.

"Anyway…!" the Time Lady said louder than necessary, breaking into a large smile, "Onwards, Doctor! I'm positively starving".

The Doctor revved the engine, before taking off, the Hatter laughing as the crowed that had gathered around them cheered them on. She vaguely noted a Japanese tourist getting a picture taken a few feet away from the TARDIS, easily getting the time machine within shot. She inwardly smiled to herself as they took off down the road, blending into the London traffic. That ought to announce their reappearance in London to their little friends, just as they wanted; their sudden, dramatic arrival in the middle of a busy street hadn't just been for the fun of it. Or money, as Clara no doubt thought. No, it was all a part of the plan…or as much as what they had actually planned out.

They drove on through the streets of the city, the cool morning air hitting their faces as they rode on, the Hatter rather enjoying the sensation. She barely resisted the urge to hold her arms up in the air and see how long she could keep herself balanced as they went; somehow she thought that doing that might actually get them pulled over by the police. Plus, she suspected the Doctor might have a small heart attack if she did that in the middle of the city with very hard concrete and tar surrounding them. Still, it was rather tempting, and she didn't have to play role-model right now with Astra not around to witness anything a little dangerous or risky.

"If you've got a flying machine," Clara called suddenly over the loud hum of the engine, cupping her hand around her mouth, "Why are we on a motorbike?"

"It's not wise to take the TARDIS along with use," the Hatter replied loudly, raising her voice enough to be heard, "We're entering into an unknown, possibly highly dangerous situation, after all".

"Because it's made of wood?"

"Because it's the most powerful ship in the universe and we don't want it falling into the wrong hands," the Doctor corrected, and took his hands off the handlebar of the bike, as if to prove his point.

"Doctor!" the Hatter shouted, her eyes widening at the sight. He was clumsy enough as it was holding onto things, she didn't trust him to steer a bike across Westminster Bridge without both hands firmly on the handlebar.

He instantly grabbed the handlebar, "Sorry, dear!" he called over the noise of the engine, sheepish.

The Time Lady shook her head fondly and rested her chin on his shoulder, enjoying the wind against her face, knowing that before long, they'd have to get back to the serious case of sorting out whatever and whoever was meddling with the Earth's wifi.

…

The café they picked to get their breakfast was actually really very nice, positioned on top of a high-rise building that overlooked St. Paul's Cathedral and overlooked the rest of the city as they took a small rounded table on the rooftop terrace. Not only was the view lovely, but the café also had free access to wifi. That had been rather important, considering that the Hatter was currently busy tapping away on the small keyboard of Clara's laptop, frowning slightly to herself as her fingers flew over the buttons. Every now and again, she would pause long enough in her typing to take another sip of tea or a nibble from the English muffin she had sitting off to the side of the laptop. The Doctor was sitting in a chair beside her, watching her work with a mixture of fondness and admiration on his face, his eyes flickering between the computer screen and the Time Lady, though she seemed to be so focused on her task, the brunet didn't even seem to be aware of it. Clara, however, watched the pair with interest from across the table, sipping on her chocolate milkshake through the straw, wrappers from her breakfast littering the table still.

"So…" she began after a good five minutes of almost complete silence from the couple. Even the Doctor had managed to keep his mouth shut, and he seemed like the type of bloke who could easily talk under water, but he had just sat there, happily watching his wife doing whatever it was that she was doing, wearing that dopy, slightly lovesick expression on his face. Clara could already tell these two were the type of couple that made you either want cringe from embarrassment or envy what they shared, "If we can travel anywhere in time and space, why did we travel to the morning?" she looked between the pair curiously, "What's the point in that?"

The Doctor didn't even glance away from the Time Lady, "Whoever's after us spent the night looking for us," he said, finally pulling his gaze away long enough to raise an eyebrow at Clara, "Are _you_ tired?"

"Yes," she nodded, though she was still obviously puzzled, staring back across to them.

He blinked at that, while the Hatter made a suspicious coughing noise, her hazel green eyes flickering over to him briefly, "What…?" he shook his head, sighing slightly as he sat back against his chair, giving the Time Lady a small pout, not that she seemed to notice…or she pretended not to, having already returned her attention onto the laptop. Cheeky, "Imagine how they feel," he turned back to Clara, "They came the long way round".

"They've been up all night trying to find us," the Hatter agreed, narrowing her eyes on the screen, "Which does give us the advantage of more energy and patience. Hmm…" she hummed thoughtfully, pausing in her typing, eyeing the screen carefully, "They must been somewhere in the heart of the city here, close by, I should imagine, judging by the signal distribution, but…" she sighed heavily, sitting heavily back against her chair, giving the computer a frustrated look, "I've managed to get into the lowest level of their operating system, that was simple enough, but I can't go any further. Their security's near impossible to hack; I can't establish a physical location".

The Doctor's mouth fell open, his head snapping around to her in shock, "What?" he stared at her, stunned, "You can't hack it? _You_?"

The Hatter inwardly resisted the urge to smirk; instead she sighed again and gave another frustrated look towards the computer. She sat forward again and brought a small window open at the left, upper corner of the screen, typing into it ' _Play along, sweetheart. Let's see just what Clara knows about computers, think of it like an experiment. Remember? Operation: gather intelligence on Clara Oswin Oswald?_ ' With her message typed up, she turned the laptop very slightly, under the pretence of trying to adjust it into a more comfortable position for herself, and drew the Doctor's attention back onto the screen. He quickly read the message and glanced at her, the Time Lady giving him a discreet look, as if to ask if he seriously had doubted her. Of course she could hack it, the system was a bit tricky, sure, but after hacking the system the first time, the second time proved painfully simple for her, but she was curious about just how much Clara knew or understood. Know your enemy…that was, if she was their enemy and not just an innocent in this whole mess, as the Time Lady desperately hoped was in this case.

"Well…" he cleared his throat, giving her a pretend reassuring smile, though anyone who knew him well could see that it was fake. The Hatter had to try hard not to roll her eyes at his acting, this version could do with working on that skill a bit more, "You tried your best, dear," he continued, flashing her a gentle smile, "Sometimes you win, sometimes you don't…"

The Hatter nodded with a mock regretful expression, typing quickly into the window, ' _Don't lay it on to thick, Doctor'_. Almost instantly, he snapped his mouth shut and suddenly became interested in looking over the view, while the Time Lady inwardly shook her head fondly, getting rid of the window and any evidence to suggest that she had actually managed to hack into the operating system. They could multitask, they could stop whoever was snatching people up through their internet connection and try to figure out Clara at the same time, preferably quickly so that they could bring Astra home. The TARDIS wasn't the same without their little girl.

"Are you aliens?" Clara asked suddenly, her eyes narrowed very slightly from over the top of her milkshake, two fingers toying absently with the straw.

"Yes, we are, funnily enough," the Hatter flashed her a bright smile over the top of the laptop.

"Okay with that?" the Doctor added, smiling slightly as he draped his left arm casually over the back of the Time Lady's chair, crossing his leg over the other one.

Her expression didn't even change, "Oh, yeah," she nodded, still eyeing them closely, though the Hatter did note that her voice sounded slightly higher, "I think I'm fine," she took a sip from her straw.

"Oh, good," he said lightly, glancing back at the laptop screen, though the Hatter was only pretending to be trying to hack anything now. He was almost surprised to see that she hadn't written any more little cheeky messages on the screen to try and get him to crack up laughing or something. That would be very like her.

She swallowed her mouthful, watching them again, "So, what happens if you do find them?" she questioned, frowning very slightly, "What happens then?"

"Oh, I'm sure we'll figure it out," the Hatter told her with a small, unconcerned shrug, "We usually do. Plans tend to just… _develop_ as we go".

Clara's eyes widened very slightly, disbelief crossing her face, "You _don't_ have a plan?"

The Doctor shrugged dismissively, "Oh, you know what I always say about plans," he flashed the Time Lady a grin, making her smile widely in return.

"What?"

He glanced back across to Clara, still grinning, "We don't have one".

"Not typically, anyway," the Hatter added, sitting back into her chair, wishing the sun would come out from behind the dark grey clouds in the sky above them. She rather liked feeling the warmth on her cheeks, "We work better on our feet, running about with our hearts pumping and a ticking clock hanging over our heads counting down the end of the world…" she paused, giving Clara a swift smile as she noticed the alarmed look that filled the girl's eyes, "Which happens _very_ rarely and isn't anything to be concerned about, of course".

She almost thought she had gotten away with it, but the Doctor suddenly had to clear his throat far too loudly and suddenly became fascinated with the view again. Okay, so maybe she had lied a bit… _or_ a lot, but baby steps. They didn't want to chase the girl off too quickly, not when they needed to figure her out first.

" _Okay_ …" Clara said slowly, giving the Time Lady a strange look, as though she was trying to figure out if she was just teasing her. She eyed them curiously for a moment longer, ideally playing with her straw, "People always have plans, though," she took another sip from her drink.

The Doctor and the Hatter exchanged a quick look, the image of the Victorian version of Clara both filling their minds, standing in the snow as they tossed an umbrella back and forth amongst the three of them, just before that version of Clara had ended up falling. This whole exchange was reminding them far too much of that very same conversation, it was almost haunting to be reminded of the fact that the girl sitting before them, currently slurping loudly on her milkshake, had already died the previous two, or three, in the Hatter's case, occasions that she had come into direct contact with them. Just _who_ was she?

"Yes," the Doctor agreed quietly, looking back across to the girl, watching her with a slightly wary frown. If Clara posed any sort of threat to his family, he would…well, he would do anything to protect his girls, "Yes, I suppose they do. So tell me…" his gaze sharpened on her, though he forced his body to remain relaxed and his expression calm, though he felt as though he was right on the edge as he looked directly across at Clara, his arm around the back of the Hatter's chair slipping down to rest along her shoulders, "How long have you been looking after those kids?"

"About a year," Clara replied, playing with her straw again, "Since their mum died".

"Oh, I am sorry," the Hatter said sadly, giving Clara a gentle look, noticing how she tried to hide the fact that she wasn't entirely comfortable talking about it, but the Time Lady noticed the way that she seemed to be toying with the straw even more than before, twisting and turning it in the tall milkshake glass. She reached out and closed the laptop lid, giving her a soft expression, while the Doctor eyed the girl closely, "What a horrible thing to happen, but I am rather curious…" she hesitated slightly, keeping her tone gentle, "Why did you take over looking after them? I understand that you were a family friend, but that's a very big thing to do, look after someone else's children for a year and move into the spare bedroom in their house".

"Hmm," the Doctor hummed in agreement, still watching the girl, though he tried hard not to seem like he was, "You don't really seem like a nanny".

Clara's eyes flickered between them, taking another sip from her drink, before she suddenly pushed the drink off to the side of the table and grabbed for the laptop, "Gimme," she said quickly, without answering as she began to pull the computer towards her.

The Doctor grabbed it back, "Ha!" he laughed very slightly, yanking it back across the table towards him, one hand resting flat against the top of the lid. The Hatter smiled faintly to herself, now they just needed to play along, "Sorry," he shook his head, amused, "What?"

She leaned across the table towards them, "You need to know where they physically are," she said, completely unbothered by the Doctor's obvious amusement at her, "Their exact location".

"Yes".

"I can do it," she smiled cheekily, suddenly snatching the laptop back.

"Oi, hang on!" he frowned, reaching for the computer, which she held closer to her chest, out of his reach, "The Hatter needs that".

"You've hacked the operating system, yeah?" she glanced across to the Hatter, raising any eyebrow at her. The Hatter smiled faintly, pleased that her plan was actually working, and gave a small nod of agreement, "I'll have their physical location in under five minutes," she told them confidently, though she somehow managed to make it sound as though she wasn't boasting. She smirked very slightly and looked at the Doctor, "Pop off and get us a coffee".

"A coffee doesn't sound too bad," the Hatter remarked lightly, casting the open door into the café a quick look, "Oh, and I saw a rather tasty apple crumble in there…though, I haven't been able to stomach apples since Astra," she sighed slightly, pulling a face as Clara gave her a slightly odd look, as though wondering why she was randomly talking about apple crumble, "I had the worst cravings for green apples when I was pregnant, couldn't get enough of them".

"Dear," the Doctor gave her an amused, fond look. Of all the things for her to be talking about, she had to bring up her pregnancy cravings when the discussion had nothing to do with it, at all. Blimey, he loved this woman, "Is this _really_ the time?"

She considered it, "Probably not," she nodded, smiling happily as she glanced across to Clara, "Of course, you're more than welcome to try hacking the system, if you want," she told her, feeling that she ought to at least try to seem doubtful about the girl's abilities, too, "But if I couldn't do it…well, I imagine that it would be impossible for someone who only just learnt about the internet to manage it".

"They uploaded me, remember?" Clara reminded them, giving them a frown, pulling the laptop back out of reach again as the Doctor went to lung for it. A middle aged couple sitting at a table a short distance away from them paused midsentence to cast them a slightly concerned look. She huffed slightly, "I've got computing stuff in my head".

The Doctor managed to grab the corner of the laptop, tugging it sharply back towards him, "So has the Hatter," he replied, while the Time Lady watched on in amusement, trying desperately not to laugh, "She's a genius, and my wife!"

"What does being your wife have anything to do with this, sweetheart?" the Hatter cut in, raising an eyebrow as she looked at him curiously.

He blinked slightly, looking caught off guard, "I don't know, I just like saying it, dear," he said, blushing very faintly. Somehow, she thought he hadn't even realised what he had said.

She laughed, "Oh, you are such a sweetheart," she cooed, making him lift his head a little higher and a smug expression cross his face.

Clara choose that moment to try pulling the laptop back towards her, "Yeah, well, I've got insane hacking skills," she said with a smirk.

The Doctor yanked the computer back towards him, focusing back onto her, "She's from space and the future with two hearts and…" the Hatter waited, one eyebrow raised as he seemed to struggle for a moment, "…twenty seven brains!"

"Oh, my…" the Hatter couldn't stop the giggles from escaping her, wrapping her arms around her middle, fearing she might have cracked a rib with how much she was laughing. _Twenty seven brains_ , seriously? That was the best he could come up with, why not mention how many hats she owned or her Sixth selves stamp collection that she still had stashed away somewhere.

"And I could find them in under five minutes, plus photographs," Clara shot back as she pulled the laptop back towards her, before pausing, frowning deeply at him, "Twenty seven?"

The Doctor paused, blinking slowly as a faint blush covered his cheeks, glancing between Clara and the still giggling time Lady, "Okay…so I might have gotten that a bit wrong," he said slowly, suddenly breaking into a wide smile as he focused on the Hatter, "I meant to say that she has the intelligence of twenty seven brains…but twenty seven super smart, genius brains. Twenty seven…"

"Okay," the Hatter actually reached up and covered his mouth with her hand, though she still was laughing very slightly, her own cheeks a pink hue, "I think you've made your point, sweetheart," she dropped her hand from his mouth, giving Clara a quick smile, "We'll go grab us a coffee, since you seem so determined to give this a crack. We'll be back in five," she pushed her chair back and began to rise, "Come along, Doctor".

The Doctor, on the other hand, hesitated, giving Clara a small frown as he reluctantly let go of the laptop, "The security is absolute," he told her as he also went to stand, watching as she immediately opened the laptop lid and began typing.

"It's never about the security," Clara said distractedly, without looking up, "It's about the people," her fingers flashed across the keyboard, almost as fast as the Hatter could type, but not quite. The Hatter reached out and grasped the Doctor's hand, pulling him over towards the entrance into the café, when he suddenly paused after only a few steps, turning back slightly to cast Clara a small frown. She must have felt the weight of both of their gazes, because Clara paused in her typing and glanced over to them, "Why do you keep looking at me like that?"

He blinked, taken aback by the fact that she had actually noticed, "Sorry, no, it's nothing," he said quickly, while the Hatter gave him a small warning look. He cleared his throat and waved his hand towards Clara, "It's just…you're a nanny. Isn't that a bit, well…" he hesitated, curious to see how she might react, "Victorian?"

"Victorian?" she repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"You're young," he continued, "Shouldn't you be doing, you know…" he began dancing on the spot, swaying from side to side as he swung his arms slightly at his sides. Clara stared back at him in disbelief, while the Hatter watched on in amusement, "…young things, with…with…with young people?"

"What, you mean like you, for instance?" she scoffed, looking him up and down, "Down, boy. You're married," she smirked very slightly and turned her attention back onto the laptop, typing rapidly.

"Okay!" the Hatter shook her head, smiling faintly as she grabbed the Doctor's hand again as a positively appalled expression filled his face at what Clara was implying, "Come along, Doctor," she said a bit more sternly, giving his arm a tug towards the café, "Leave Clara to her work, we need to get the coffee".

"But…but I didn't mean…!"

She paused and turned back around to press a kiss to his cheek, instantly silencing him, "Of course not," she nodded, pulling back slightly with a soft look, though her eyes glimmered with amusement, "But one might have thought after all these centuries of friendship and marriage, you would be better prepared to deal with Clara's teasing".

The Doctor really didn't have anything to say to that to try and defend himself, giving her a small, embarrassed small as he allowed her to pull him over towards the double doors of the café, the smell of freshly roasted coffee hitting them like a wave the moment they entered, bitter but sweet at the same time. He forgot all about the embarrassing moment with Clara and instead broke into a wide, matching grin with the Hatter as they approached the coffee bar set up along the side of the café/lounge area, eagerly taking in the display of different cakes, biscuits, slices, and whatever other sweets that were set up in display behind the glass of the refrigerated case.

"Ooh!" he cooed eagerly, grabbing a chocolate cake sitting on a cake display on top of the bar, taking a large sniff of it. He quickly looked at the Time Lady, "Still want that apple crumble, dear?" he asked, holding the cake out towards her.

"Don't tempt me, Doctor," she sighed longingly, leaning forward slightly to take a large sniff of the sweet, chocolate cake, detecting a hint of vanilla. She might not have quite the same love for all things sweet as her previous regeneration had, but she still had a soft spot for chocolate, even if she tended to lean more towards savoury foods in this body. She peered into the display case and her mouth instantly began watering at the sight of a plate covered with very large, white chocolate chip cookies, though the chocolate cake the Doctor had practically waved under her nose was still very tempting…, "Hello," she shook her head sharply, turning to flash a bright smile at the older, white haired, bearded man standing behind the counter, watching them with a slightly amused smile as he wiped down the bottom of a glass canister with shortbread inside it, "Three cappuccinos for that table out on the terrace, please," she pointed back outside, Clara still tapping away at their table.

"One moment, ma'am," the man told her, turning to walk over to the coffee machine off to the side of the display case.

The Doctor sat the cake down on the counter and leaned down slightly to peer into the display, "Are you sure your don't want a biscuit, dear?" he asked her with a teasing little smile, glancing back to her as she moved look at all the tempting sweets, too, "Or maybe a slice of cake, or…"

The Hatter laughed, linking her arm through his, "I'm starting to think you might want a sweet, sweetheart," she commented, amused by his attempt to get her to order something else…which she was very sorely tempted to do, not just because of his antics, either, "But you're just trying to get _me_ to be the one to do it, because you think Clara will think _your_ childish if you do".

He gave her a mock gasp, stepping closer to her side, "Do you think I would be that calculating, dear?"

"Yes".

"Okay…" he instantly dropped the act, giving her a bright grin, "You see right through me, don't you?"

"You _are_ rather transparent," she smirked teasingly.

His expression softened and he lifted his right hand up to lightly tuck a strand of dark brown hair behind her ear, careful not to touch her hat, "Or maybe you just see _me_ ," he said quietly, giving her a gentle, tender look.

The Hatter smiled softly, her hearts warming, "You truly are such a romantic, sweetheart," she said with an amused tone, though she was also rather affected by the sheer look of utter love in his eyes, it didn't matter how many times he looked at her like that, it always took her breath away and made her feel as though it was just the two of them in the Universe. She was so caught up in the moment, in fact, that she didn't even notice when the lights flickered and a buzzing noise briefly sounded.

"Well, isn't this sickening?" the older man behind the counter said suddenly. The Time Lords frowned, their heads snapping around towards him, finding him staring back at them with a completely emotionless look on his face, "But you realise you haven't the slightest chance of saving your little friend".

The Doctor blinked slowly, giving the man an utterly confused look, while the Hatter frowned deeply, "I'm sorry, what?" he asked him, just as the man seemed to almost…relax, going straight back to fiddling around with the coffee machine.

"I said one moment, sir," he said without looking up, setting three cups down onto a tray sitting on the bench. The Doctor looked at the Hatter, exchanging a slightly confused, wary look, when they both heard a funny electrical buzzing noise, "I said…" the man spoke again, drawing their attention sharply back to him, finding him staring straight back at them with an emotionless face once more, "There's not the slightest chance of saving your little friend," the Time Lords eyed him closely, "And don't annoy the old man. He isn't, in fact, speaking".

They stared at him intently, watching as a flicker of bright light seemed to almost spark across the man's skin, just before he returned his attention onto making their coffee, as though nothing had happened. The Hatter felt a wave of uneasiness wash over her, not at all liking the fact that whoever was behind this whole mess with the wifi, was apparently able to use whatever power they possessed to use it to control innocent people, using them like puppets for whatever they so wished. It was a terrifying thought; just how much control did they actually have over people?

" _I'm_ speaking," a woman's voice spoke from behind them, and they spun around, finding a young waitress standing right behind them, looking utterly emotionless as she stood tall and straight backed, "Just using whatever's to hand," she continued, the Doctor quickly looked back and forth between the waitress and the older man, still preparing the coffee, oblivious, "Oh, she's rather pretty, isn't she? Do you like her?" her blank gaze fixed on the Doctor, "I could make her like you too, if you want".

"Stop it," the Hatter said angrily, her eyes narrowing. She even took a step closer to the waitress, knowing that whoever was on the other end, would be watching them, "Release her, she's an innocent. Whatever sway you have over her, you will let her go, because trust me, there's nothing I hate more in the Universe then someone's free will being taken away from them".

It reminded her far too much of the Master, the very thought of one's own self-will being snatched away sickened her. She had witnessed the Master toy with other people's minds before, seen him do it for his own amusement or pleasure, and she hadn't always had the courage to stand up and stop him. When they had been kids he had began experimenting with using mind control on their own classmates, usually those younger than them, he had thought it was funny back then, controlling people to do petty things, like homework or using it to get others into trouble, but then it had grown more sinister. He had begun pushing his own influence onto others to leave them completely at his mercy; it's how he ended up killing the Hatter's own cousin. He had pushed her to far one day and her mind, fragile and young, had snapped. Of course, the Hatter and the Doctor had been aware of his interest in mind control, they had known that he sometimes used it on others, but they had been still so naive. They had disproved of it and quite often had to be the ones to remove the Master's control over his latest victim, but neither of them had ever imagined just how far he had actually taken his interest. It had seemed like a sick prank to them and they had just been children themselves, neither of them realised the full extent of it until it was too late.

The Doctor reached out and placed a hand her lower back, his eyes flickering warily between the Time Lady and the enthralled waitress, almost seeming to be preparing himself to pull the brunet back, if need be. The waitress was silent for a moment, before there was a brief spark of light over her skin and the buzzing sounded again, and suddenly the consciousness came back into her dark brown eyes.

"You all right, ma'am, sir?" she asked them with a slight frown, leaning back from how closely the Time Lady was standing to her, almost looming over her.

The Hatter blinked and took a hasty step back, forcing a reassuring smile onto her lips, "Oh, yes," she said, glancing at the Doctor beside her, giving him a pointed look, "Perfectly well, thank you. Doctor, I think we ought to check on Clara now," she said firmly, feeling the waitress gaze on them, clearly still a little uncomfortable and confused.

"Yes," the Doctor nodded quickly, casting the waitress and the man behind the counter a brief look, "Yes, let's go do that…" he grabbed her hand and turned, leading the way quickly back towards the door to the terrace, bringing them to a skidding stop as they reached Clara's table as she sat typing rapidly on the laptop, "You okay?"

"Sure," Clara replied distractedly, intently focused on the laptop, "Setting up stuff. Need a user name," she frowned slightly, thoughtful.

"You certainly caught on quickly," the Hatter commented, exchanging a look with the Doctor. The girl barely knew how to start a computer when they first met her, now she knew how to hack? That was certainly some patch they gave her.

She smirked, glancing across to them, "Clara Oswald for the win," she said brightly, before her eyes widened in realisation and she held up a finger, "Oswin!"

The Hatter almost felt as though she had accidently missed a stair, looking sharply back at the girl as she went back to tapping away at the keys, apparently utterly clueless to anything being wrong. She tightened her grip on the Doctor's hand as she met his wide eyes, both thinking back to Oswin, the ever so helpful and bright girl from the Dalek Asylum, quite possibly the one decent and kind Dalek that the Universe had ever seen. She had told them her name was Oswin, her hacking skills had been beyond anything that a human or, even a Time Lords, capabilities. But how did any of this fit between those two women? And what about the Victorian Clara? Or the Hatter's niece, Os?

"Well…" the Time Lady said slowly, desperately trying to conceal how shaken Clara's username had made her feel. How would she have reacted if Clara had decided to call herself 'Os,' she doubted she would have been able to hide her reaction, "We will just…leave you to it".

The Time Lords exchanged another hurried look as Clara hummed vaguely in acknowledgment, her focus completely on the screen. They turned back to the café and slipped inside, just as the buzzing and a flash of light came again.

"Now I want you to take a look around," the waitress suddenly walked up to them again, pulling their attention back onto her as she almost circled them, "Go on, have a little stroll, and see how impossible your situation is," the Doctor and the Hatter exchanged a grim look, very much disliking how much power this…being, whatever or whoever it might be, seemed to posses, "Go on, take a look," she insisted again, almost mockingly, taking a step closer to them, "I do love showing off".

The buzzing filled the air again and the lights flickered, just as the woman blinked and looked down at the serving tray in her arm, turning to walk away from them with a quick, slightly confused look over her shoulder towards them, clearly having no memory of how she came to be standing so close to them once more. The Doctor and the Hatter frowned deeply as they cast their eyes around the lounge/café, but everything seemed perfectly normal. A few people were sitting at tables, sipping coffee, while others were busy ordering their meal, the large flat screen television screen playing quietly in the background as it hung on the wall on the far side of the room, a female news reporter talking on the screen. And then, a little fair haired girl dressed in pink stood from one of the tables, holding a book in her arms, just as the buzzing and the lights flickered again.

"Just let me show you what control of the wifi can do for you," the girl said to them, making the Doctor and the Hatter spin around to face the girl, her face utterly blank, "Stop!" she shouted, making everyone, save for the Time Lords, freeze with a shimmer of light over their forms.

The Hatter's eyes instantly narrowed, anger washing over her like a wave at the sight of a child being used, being controlled and possessed like a puppet. It was bad enough to witness adults being controlled, but a child? That was a line that should never, ever be crossed in the Time Lady's mind, and the Doctor's, for that matter. The Doctor's own reaction was less outward as he took the Hatter's hand, stepping forward very slightly, towards the girl, his green eyes instantly growing colder and his jaw tensing into a hard line. Children, for both of them, was something that never should be brought into the affairs of adults, they were innocents that needed to be protected, they had no place in a mess like this one.

"We saw what you can do last night," the Doctor told whoever was speaking through the girl, his tone carefully controlled, but with a slight edge he couldn't quite conceal, "And I would suggest that you want to continue this little _show_ …" he waved his free hand around at the other frozen humans within the café/lounge, not taking his eyes off the girl, "That you leave any and all children out of this, otherwise I can't say just what my clever and extremely maternal wife might just do. Or me, for that matter".

"If you harm a _single_ child…" the Hatter began her voice terrifyingly calm, "There will not be a single dark corner in the Universe or time itself that we won't track you. That is a promise…" her lips twisted into a chilling, dangerous smile that even made the Doctor want to step away, "And I _always_ keep my promises".

There was a long, tense pause as the girl's blank gaze stared back at them…, "And clear," she called, before the shimmering light cast over herself and the other frozen patrons disappeared, just as they all turned to leave the room without a second glance at the Time Lords, the little girl following along with them all.

The Hatter realised a long breath through her lips, frowning slightly to herself as she glanced down at her free left hand, finding it shaking very slightly. It had been quite a while since she had actually shaken from the sheer anger of something, she almost regretted having made such a threat…but the truth was that it hadn't just been words, she had meant every single thing she had said. Motherhood, failing Amy and Rory in regards to their own daughter…failing to protect her own children and grandchildren, it had left an impact upon her. It had made her less forgiving when it came to these sorts of things, more willing to perhaps even go against her own moral and ethics. It was almost frightening, the realisation that she truly didn't know just how far she might go, if a situation like this one progressed into even darker waters.

"Hatter," the Doctor said softly from beside her, making the Hatter blink and her head snap up, meeting his concerned eyes, "Are you okay, dear?"

She sighed heavily, dropping her hand back to her side, "I miss Astra," she said, knowing that she didn't need to explain to him how she was feeling right now, not really, because he always just understood her. She tightened her grip on his hand, "Are you alright?"

He went to answer, when the lights flickered again and the buzzing sounded in their ears, instantly making them tense. What next? Surely they weren't so arrogant that they would try to pull the same stunt again as they did with the little girl?

"We can hack anyone in the wifi once they've been exposed long enough," the news reporter on the large television screen suddenly said, drawing their attention onto the screen, where it almost looked as though a stream of code characters, too small to make out properly, ran down over the image.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes on the screen, "So there's one of your walking base stations here," he remarked, quickly casting his eyes around the room, trying to find it, "Somewhere close".

"There's always someone close. We've released thousands s into the world. They home in on the wifi, like rats sniffing cheese".

"This stops today," the Hatter stepped closer to the screen, her expression darkening, "I neither care, nor know who you are, but what you are doing to these people _will_ stop. No longer will they be your puppets for you to toy with and harm, because the people of this planet, each and every single one of them, are under _our_ protection…" she gestured to herself and the Doctor, glaring determinedly at the screen, feeling her hands begin to shake again…the Doctor gripped her hand tighter, "This ends. No one else will be hurt because of…"

"The people of this world are in no danger whatsoever," the reporter cut across her, completely calm, seemingly unaffected by anything that either Time Lord had to say on the matter, "My client requires a steady diet of living human minds. Healthy, free-range, human minds…" the Hatter had to bite her lip at that, feeling her anger rising, "…he loves and cars for humanity. In fact, he can't get enough of it".

"It's obscene," the Doctor said in disgust, his voice low, while the Hatter took a deep breath, desperately trying to stop herself from shouting in her own outrage, "It's _murder_ ".

"It's _life_. The farmer tends his flock like a loving parent…" the Time Lords glared even more fiercely at t _hat_ likening, "…The abattoir is not a contradiction. No one loves cattle more than Burger King".

"You're talking about _people_!" the Hatter snapped, shaking her head in disbelief and disgust at what she was hearing, "People, human beings with lives and loved ones, not _food_!"

"This ends," the Doctor told the screen, sounding frighteningly calm in comparison to the Time Lady, "We're going to end this today".

"How?" the reporter asked, "You don't even know where we are".

The Hatter scoffed at that, giving the screen a dark smirk, "Do you _really_ think so?" she said lightly, raising an eyebrow, "Well, if it makes you feel better…"

The Doctor glanced at her, his expression full of pride, before he turned back towards the screen, "Who's doing this?" he questioned, his eyes narrowing, "Who is your client? _Hmm_?" he waited for a moment, giving them a chance to respond, "Answer me".

The screen flickered and suddenly it flashed with a blue light, before the report blinked on the screen and went straight back into her news report, as though nothing had happened at all. The Doctor and the Hatter exchanged an unsurprised look; neither having truly expected it to be that simple, but it would have been nice.

"We ought to get back to Clara," the Time Lady sighed, casting the screen a quick, wary look, "And we need to put a stop to this, one last time. If she hasn't managed to trace them, then we'll need to interrupt her".

"This is too important for an experiment," the Doctor agreed, his expression grim. He turned on his heel and they swiftly left the room, quickly heading towards the terrace doors, "Clara?" he called as they neared, stepping out onto the terrace, only for their steps to falter upon the sight that meet them, "Clara?"

The Hatter felt as though a bucket of ice water had been thrown over her head, Clara was slumped over the small table they had left her at, her eyes closed, as though she was sleeping, while the laptop sat before her. Standing just a few feet away from the table was one of the base stations, disguised as the Doctor, right down to his bowtie, its head turned towards them, while it's body faced the table.

She swallowed hard at the sight, "We're too late," she breathed, feeling horrified. No, they couldn't have failed Clara again, they just couldn't have, not after everything they had done to try and protect her this time, all the effort they had put into keeping her safe, getting her back from their clutches the first time round.

"Doctor?" Clara's voice sounded through the air, though her mouth didn't move. Slowly, the robot's head began to swivel, "Hatter? Help me. I…I don't know where I am. I don't understand. Help me, please!" she cried, while the robot's head turned around fully, the back of what would have been its head curved inwards with a screen showing Clara looking around frantically, "I don't know where I am! I don't know where I am!" the Hatter couldn't tear her eyes off the image of Clara desperately searching for a way out as she and the Doctor stepped closer to the robot, "I don't know where I am! Doctor, Hatter, please! Please help me! Please help me! I don't know where I am! I don't know where I am…!"

"That's it," the Hatter said softly, her expression hardening, "They've made this personal. Time we return the favour. Doctor?"

The Doctor straightened, pulling his eyes off the image of Clara on the screen, desperately trying to find an escape, "With pleasure, Hatter," he reached into his inner breast pocket of his coat, whipping his sonic screwdriver out, and flashed it at the base station, while the Hatter moved straight for the laptop.

The time for games was over.

….

The Doctor drove the motorbike back through the streets of London, caring little for the road rules or laws as he went, not that he imagined that anyone would actually try to stop him right now. If they did…well, let's just say that he was in no mood to be dealing with the local police right now. He zoomed across the Westminster Bridge, overtaking a double Decker bus as he went, his coat flaring out behind him as he looked out across towards the Shard, his mouth gritted into a hard line at the sight of the high-rise building. That's where they were based out of, and if they were clever, just as he knew they were, they would be watching him right now. London was full of cameras; it was probably one of the reasons for why they picked this city.

He drove on, finally pulling up to a stop just outside the building, peering up at it as the motorbike rumbled beneath him. Standing just on the footpath next to him, was a middle aged man with a Styrofoam box of chips in his hands. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a shimmer of light wash over the man, before he straightened and turned towards him.

"Really, Doctor," he said, utterly expressionlessly, just like all the other people, "A motorbike? Hardly seems like you. Your wife, on the other hand…"

He smirked slightly, the Hatter's leather jacket did give her that vibe…plus, she did love to speed, "I rode this in the antgrave Olympics, 2074," he informed them, glancing down at the bike, "I came last, the Hatter got second place…she still says there was a conspiracy," he looked amused, "This version of her isn't a very good loser…"

"The building is in lock-down," he interrupted him, pulling the Doctor's attention back across to him, "I'm afraid you're not coming in".

He lifted an eyebrow behind his goggles, "Did you even hear the word anti-grave?" he gave the man one last smug look, before slamming his hand down on the bright red button on the small panel sitting on top of the fuel tank, reviving the engine as he took off straight for the building…he didn't even pause, going straight up the side of the building, like it was just another part of the road, speeding all the way up the glass, until he reached the halfway mark.

He carefully reached into his pocket and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, aiming it at the office window ahead of him. The glass shattered loudly and he easily drove straight up to it, turning the motorbike into the very modern office and brought the bike to a skidding stop amongst the shattered glass. He smirked to himself, turning off the ignition and climbed off the bike, letting it fall onto its side as the front wheel continued to spin rapidly. The office was empty, his sharp eyes quickly taking it in as he pulled his goggles up on top of his helmet, moving to sit comfortably in the chair behind the glass, modern desk, crossing his legs on top of it, waiting. He didn't have to wait long, he had barely brushed a bit of glass off his lapel, when the door swung open and an older woman with short, grey hair and dressed in a dark grey pantsuit stepped inside, looking the least bit surprised by his appearance.

"Do come in," the woman remarked lightly.

"Download her," he said, in little mood to engage in games any longer. They had made this personal, Clara was under his and the Hatter's direct protection and they had still thought that they were capable of snatching her away from them.

She smiled very faintly, "Do come in," she waved vaguely towards the shattered window, clearly the least bit intimidated by him.

His eyes narrowed, "Download her back into her body right now," he demanded firmly.

"I can't".

"Yes, you can".

"She's a fully integrated part of the data cloud, now. She can't be separated".

The Doctor didn't even blink at that, his expression only growing harder, "Then download the entire cloud," he told her sharply, "Everyone you've trapped in there".

She merely lifted an eyebrow, "You realise what would happen?"

"Yes," he nodded, uncrossing his ankles and dropping his legs back onto the ground, standing, "Those with bodies to go home to would be _free_ ".

"A tiny number. Most would simply die".

He walked around the side of the desk, coming to stand before her in front of the shattered window, "They'd be released from a living hell," he argued, feeling a pang of regret that so many lives had been stolen away, and that there was nothing that either himself or the Hatter could do to fix it, but they could bring those people some peace. He quickly checked his wristwatch, ignoring her slightly puzzled frown as he fixed her with a stern look, "It's the best you can do for them, so give the order".

Her frown only deepened, "And why would I do that?"

He smirked smugly again, leaning slightly closer to her, "Because my genius wife, who happens to be brilliant at computers, is going to _motivate_ you," he replied darkly, pride filling his voice, "Any second now".

"You ridiculous man," the woman scoffed, turning slightly to maintain eye contact with him as he stepped around her, "Why did you even come here? Whatever for?"

"I didn't," he replied, still smirking.

"What?"

"I'm still in the café," he reached up to unclip his helmet.

…

"I'm finishing my coffee," the Doctor, the _real_ Doctor, continued as he lifted his cup up to his lips, taking a sip of his coffee. He exchanged a pleased look with the Hatter as she sat in a chair beside him, holding her own cup in her right hand, while she typed on the laptop with her left hand, a small window open up in the corner of the screen showing the older women's shocked expression as she stood in her office within the Shard. It truly was priceless. He lightly toasted his cup against the Time Lady's, "Lovely spot".

"Wonderful wifi access," the Hatter added, grinning as she placed her cup down on the table next to the computer. Clara was still slumped over the table across from them.

He shot her a smirk at that, before turning his gaze back onto the small window, showing what the base station disguised as him was seeing right now, "You hack people, but myself and my lovely wife?" he said, shrugging, "We're old fashioned. We hack technology," he glanced at the Hatter, who pressed a button on the keyboard with a dramatic flourish, before giving him a sharp nod. He smiled, "Here's your motivation".

They watched the footage play out as the woman's eyes widened and she began to back away, just as the base station removed the motorbikes helmet, its head swivelling around. Sadly, they couldn't see just how much impact their trick had, given that they only had a view of the wall, but they could still hear everything.

"No, not me!" she cried out from out of sight, sounding terrified, "Not me!"

There was a flash of bright light and the woman's cries cut off abruptly. The light was so bright, in fact, that they could even see it flash across the sky from the broken window of the Shard in the distance, the Doctor and the Hatter allowing themselves the moment to savour the feeling of victory as the woman was caught up in her own trap, integrated into her very own system, just like all of her other victims.

"Ooh, she's not going to like the taste of her own medicine," the Hatter commented, grinning, her eyes lit up with delight as she imagined just what sort of tantrum the woman would no doubt be putting on right now.

"We haven't finished quite yet, dear," the Doctor reminded her, though he was smiling happily to, looking deeply satisfied by the thought. He pulled the laptop closer to him as it sat on the table between them, typing a quick command into it as they watched as the base stationed still within the office turn and walk back over to the desk, picking up a slim, black tablet as it sat on the desk, filled with data on every worker within the organisation.

The thing was, that while the Hatter had been running her own quick hack into their system earlier, she had also discovered that the workers were also being hacked, everything from their intelligence to their obedience levels were being controlled, which provided them with exactly what they needed. He selected one of the worker's profile's, a man by the name Mahler, who seemed to almost be the second in command, and pushed his obedience level to the maximum point it could go. He closed the laptop lid as they looked back to Clara, watching her closely…it took less than thirty seconds before she began breathing again, her eye flickering very slightly and her finger twitching. They had succeeded.

The Hatter smiled faintly, standing from her seat as she moved around the table to lightly brush a piece of dark brown hair out of her face, "You'll be fine," she reassured the sleeping girl gently, "Congratulations on your first adventure," she stroked her head for a moment longer, before she lifted her gaze up to meet the Doctor's as he also rose from his chair.

"This isn't too much for you, is it?" he asked her quietly, watching the way that she gently stroked Clara's hair, just as she might have done with Astra. The Hatter's biggest weakness and strength was always how much she cared for people, but he feared that this time it would weaken her, because as much as he knew that she was trying to not look at Clara and see her niece, he also knew her. He knew that no matter how hard she would try, the Hatter would only want to see the best in Clara, and right now, that could be a very dangerous thing indeed. If Clara was a threat and she did get close to the Hatter, she could end up breaking her hearts and he would not allow that to happen, he would not allow anyone to hurt his Hatter in anyway. Not ever.

She swallowed, glancing back down at the sleeping girl, "She's _not_ my niece," she said firmly, looking back up to him as she dropped her hand from Clara's hair, "I know that, Doctor. It's fine".

He eyed her closely for a moment, concern and affection plain across his features, before he gave her a sympathetic smile and held his hand out to her. They both knew that it wasn't completely true, but for now he would let it go, because he trusted her. If she said it was okay, then he could only accept that until he had more evidence to suggest that it really wasn't fine. The Hatter gave him a grateful smile and took his hand, the two of them quietly slipping out of the terrace, just as Clara began to blink awake behind them…

…

It was the next day, or at least it would be from the human perspective, to the Doctor and the Hatter it was just a few minutes later, bringing the TARDIS down to park in the front garden of the Maitland's home, after having sent UNIT a little message, of course. The Hatter was sitting next to the Doctor on one of the stairs, frowning vaguely to herself as she absently toyed with a small, pink teddy bear, her fingers lightly tracing the stitching that formed the bear's mouth. It was Astra's, not Cyril…no, Cyril had to stay with Astra, otherwise she couldn't go to sleep, but it was still something of hers. It made the Hatter feel both connected and yet so distant from her little girl, looking at the black beady eyes.

"We'll bring her home, Hatter," the Doctor murmured to her, his arm wrapped around her waist, hugging her close to his side. He pressed his lips against her head, her hat sitting on the floor next to her, "I promise, we'll bring her back to us the second we know its safe".

"I know," she sighed, resisting against the sudden urge to cry. She would not cry now, couldn't, "I just miss her so much. I just want to hold her in my arms".

"We _both_ will," he promised her fiercely, closing his eyes as he brought his forehead to rest against her head, the scent of apples and time filling his nose, "And we'll _never_ let her go again".

Suddenly, there was a light knock on the door and they instantly straightened. The Hatter quickly tucked the teddy bear back into her jacket pocket and placed her hat back on her head, blinking away the tears that had sprung up in her eyes, while the Doctor cleared his throat, giving her a quick look. She nodded, forcing a smile onto her lips.

"Come in," he called loudly across the room.

The door creaked open and Clara stepped inside, closing the door behind her as she looked across the room to them, "So…" she began, lifting an eyebrow, "They come back, do they?"

"You never answered our question," the Doctor replied, neither he, nor the Hatter making any move to stand.

She crossed her arms across her chest, frowning slightly in confusion as she wondered further into the room, "What question?" she asked.

"You don't seem like a nanny".

She hesitated, shifting slightly on the spot, her eyes flickering between them, "I was going to travel," she told them after a long moment, her expression growing sad, "I came to stay for a week before I left, and during that week…"

The Hatter sighed sadly, "She died," she said softly, seeing Clara's expression, the way she almost seemed to be hugging herself. She nodded as Clara remained silent, giving her a sad little smile, "And so you decided to stay, because you couldn't leave, not yet".

"You've got a hundred and one places to see, and you haven't been to any of them, have you?" the Doctor lifted an eyebrow, eyeing Clara closely, holding up a finger, "That's why you keep the book".

Clara smiled slightly, walking closer to the console, "I keep the book because I'm still going," she insisted lightly, uncrossing her arms as she braced her hands against the console panel, looking over all the buttons and levers.

"And you're loyal," the Hatter added, watching her with a gentle expression, "You don't leave people behind, just because you have plans. No, you follow your heart and do what's right, but never forget your own dreams," she gave her an approving look as Clara glanced up from the control panel, "You ought to feel proud of yourself, Clara, few people would be that selfless".

Clara smiled cheekily, "Sounds like you're speaking from experience".

She tried hard not to flitch, her left hand subconsciously moving to touch the pocket she had hidden Astra's teddy bear in, "We know a little about sacrifice, yes," she said quietly, trying hard not to think about her little girl, nor all the other things that she had sacrificed for the greater good.

The Doctor glanced worriedly at the Hatter, before clearing his throat loudly, "You know," he began, slightly louder then truly necessary, slipping his arm from around the Hatter as he jumped onto his feet, "The thing about a time machine…" he grinned as he skipped down the steps, swinging himself down onto the main console level from off the banister railing, sliding across the floor as he came to a stop before Clara, "You can run away all you like and still be home in time for tea, so what do you say?" he leaned closer to her, his eyes lit up with excitement, "Anywhere. All of time and space, right outside those doors".

Clara laughed, casting the doors a look over her shoulder, "Does this work?" she turned back towards him, smiling widely in amusement.

The Hatter smirked, jumping up from the step, "Oh, I do like you," she remarked, skipping down the remaining steps, coming to stand next to the Doctor, who looked quite shocked and confused by Clara's response, "Always surprising, Clara Oswald," she said, absently patting the Doctor's arm, "Just my sort of girl".

She grinned, looking pleased by the Time Lady's words, "But am I right?" she lifted an eyebrow, laughing again, "Is this actually what you do?" she lingered more on the Doctor, then the Hatter at that, "Do you just crook your finger and people just jump in your snog box and fly away?"

"It's not a snog box!" the Doctor protested sternly.

"Yeah," the Hatter wound her arm around his, giving him a cheeky smirk, "It _so_ is".

"I…" he blushed slightly, deflating under her teasing gaze, "Okay, fine," he sighed heavily, knowing when he was beaten, "It's a snog box, but…" he suddenly turned and pointed sharply at Clara, his expression very stern, "Not with _you_ , so don't go getting any ideas! I'm a married man".

Clara smiled and held up her hands in surrender, "Fine," she said, her expression playful, "But you've got to prove it first".

"Starting when?"

She eyed them thoughtfully; though she struggled not to smile, "Come back tomorrow," she told them, crossing her arms across her chest, "Ask me again".

He frowned, glancing at the Hatter, who didn't look the slightest bit surprised. If anything, she actually looked impressed, "Why?" he asked, turning back to the girl.

"Because tomorrow, I might say yes," she replied, flashing them a bright smile as she turned, heading back towards the doors, "Sometime after seven okay for you two?" she called over her shoulder.

"You do remember it's a _time machine_ , right?" the Hatter lifted an eyebrow, amused as she watched her go, nearing the doors, "We literally have all of time at our beck and call".

She paused at the doors, giving them a happy, excited look, "See you then," she said, spinning on her heel, moving towards the door.

"Clara?" the Doctor called suddenly, making her pause again with her hand on the doorhandle, turning back towards them with a curious expression. He frowned slightly, eyeing her closely, "In your book there was a leaf. Why?"

Her expression softened, "That wasn't a leaf," she replied quietly, shaking her head, "That was page one," she gave them one last smile, softer this time, before she turned the doorhandle and slipped outside, letting the door swing shut behind her.

The Doctor and the Hatter eyed the door for a moment, both thinking over her parting words, but it seemed as though they themselves were still standing on page one when it came to solving the mystery of Clara Oswin Oswald. They were still no closer to figuring out what was going on, if she was an innocent or a threat, but they would figure it out. For the sake of reuniting themselves with their daughter, they would do anything to insure that their home was as safe as they could make it.

"Right then, Clara Oswald," the Doctor smirked slightly, turning to the Hatter, "Time to find out who you are".

The Hatter nodded firmly, casting the door a long, thoughtful look, "Whatever it takes," she agreed, dropping her arm from around his as they moved to quickly begin dancing around the controls, setting them off into the Time Vortex.

 _ **I feel like I keep underestimating just how long it's going to take me to update this story, I seriously need to find a way to balance everything, between trying to focus on my health, school, and my writing. I'll get there in the end. Hopefully. But anyway, I did manage to finish it, and I feel like in this chapter we got to see more of a fierce side to the Hatter then we've perhaps seen before. Beneath all that cheekiness and teasing is steal.**_

 _ **Next chapter, the Hatter is a bit of a fangirl for Clara's parents, our Time Lords become stalkers, and Clara travels into space.**_

 _ **I hope you liked it, tell me what you thought. Please review :)**_

 _ **Guest Reviews:**_

 _ **Guest (1):**_ _ **If the Hatter had died in Doomsday, it would have just destroyed the Doctor. He would have felt so cheated, he had just got her back after a century of grief and loneliness, only to lose her again, what, months? A year? After getting her back again. And then, on top of that, he would have lost Rose, too. I think he would have felt so guilty, not just for not having been there to save the Hatter, but for having cared for Rose. I think he probably would have given up travelling after that, I think the fun of it would have just disappeared the moment the Hatter died. What was the point of any of it without her? Without her promise to live up to? Without his best friend?**_

 _ **Guest (2):**_ _ **All of them, if possible, both those alive then and those who have passed by then, even if another actor has to dress up like them…preferably written properly and accurately. Let us not speak of the disgrace that was the First Doctor in 'Twice Upon a Time'.**_

 _ **Guest (3): I**_ _ **'m afraid I've still yet to listen to any of the audio dramas, but thank you for the recommendation. Hopefully one day.**_

 _ **Guest (4):**_ _ **I would love to, I could so see River accidently crossing paths with the past Hatter, she's done it with the Doctor in canon, after all. I'll put it on my list :)**_

 _ **Guest (5):**_ _ **I have so many 'what if?' storyline ideas in my head, to be honest. I could probably come up with a dozen different ones from different significant moments throughout the series, What would have happened if the Hatter had decided to stay with Sarah Jane in 'School Reunion'? What would have happened if River had fallen for the Doctor despite the Hatter's presence? What if the Doctor had convinced himself that he wasn't good enough for the Hatter and had convinced himself that he didn't have feelings for her anymore? So many possibilities, I think every story has the ability to branch off into so many different 'what if?' universes. But as for writing them, as much as I would actually like to give it another go, I'm not sure if I have the time currently. I certainly would like to try, one day, to write a 'What if?' story about what would have happened if the Hatter and the Doctor had got together back during the Classic Who days, perhaps during Five's era. I think that would be fun.**_

 _ **Guest (6):**_ _ **The best part of season eleven, for me, was probably getting to know this knew Doctor and companions. I've really enjoyed getting to see how this Doctor works, how they've dealt with the whole so called 'gender issue,' which I was personally very happy with how they dealt with it by not making it a big deal. I really hoped they would write it like that.**_

 _ **The worst part would probably be that I felt like we just had too many companions, to be honest. I loved all of them, don't get me wrong, but I just felt like we had that old issue of having to pair of two of them and send them off on their own thing, while the Doctor and another companion did their thing. I also wasn't a big fan of the big baddie of season eleven, I just…wasn't a fan, I didn't find it as exciting as previous season finals, and was actually kind of disappointed by it. I also found that the episodes themselves were kind of simple, story wise, you know? I guess I'm just used to Moffat's big, drawn out; complex storylines, but I did kind of miss that. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the season for the most part, I had episodes that I thought were great and look forward to one day, hopefully, writing, but it just felt different.**_

 _ **Guest (7):**_ _ **Ooh, such a tricky question, I have so many episodes I'm looking forward to writing, but if I really had to pick one, it would be torn between Heaven Sent and Hell Bent. I have so much planned for these two episodes, they've practically written themselves inside my head since the first time I watched them. Most episodes I know how they'll go, teasing/flirty moments or significant things that I'll plant into those episodes, but for the most part I write as I go. I don't like to plan too much, because I find the story and characters play out better when they're written as I write them, but these two episodes are just so important in my mind that they're already written themselves in my head. Just thinking about it makes me excited.**_

 _ **Guest (8):**_ _ **Once upon a time the Hatter was very concerned in regards to the Doctor possibly becoming the Valeyard, it was something that she certainly feared would one day become her friend, and it was something she very seriously wondered about how he could have become that man. But now? I think it was something that was in the back of her mind during her Ninth regeneration, but not so much the Tenth and Eleventh versions of her. Ten, I feel, was confident that he wouldn't go down that path because he had her, while Eleven, I feel, has other priorities. She's more concerned for the very real possibility of what might happen to her daughter, the what if's surrounding the Doctor becoming the Valeyard just seem so distant in comparison. The concern is still there, of course, but less so then before.**_

 _ **Guest (9):**_ _ **I cracked up laughing at this, mainly out of guilt. 'The Three Doctors and Hatters' hasn't made much progress since the 10/7/2018, according to the date on the document. I've finished the first chapter and I have about a thousand words written up for the next, I just haven't got around to working on it any further. I have to really concentrate on Classic Who, they just pack so much into a scene and sometimes finding a way to describe something that isn't very realistic can take a bit of...creativity. Plus, I'm trying to figure out exactly how I want to work the First Hatter into the story, I've got a pretty good idea of how it'll work, but I'm just not sure exactly how to form it. I am working on it, though, I haven't forgotten about it. I might even get a chance to do some work on it this weekend.**_

 _ **Guest (10):**_ _ **Perhaps the Highlanders, since I would have really liked to see how the Doctor met Jaime, since I feel like Jaime played such an important role in the Second Doctor's era. But ideally I've love to watch all of the missing episodes. Who wouldn't?**_

 _ **Guest (11):**_ _ **There is so much about this series I would change, mostly within the first story, mind you. I was thirteen, fourteen when I began writing this story, I'm now twenty two and, I like to think, have more life experience and maturity. I feel like I tried to make the Hatter more special when I first began writing her, the whole Gifted One storyline just makes me want to cringe now, but I can't change it. At the time I thought it sounded cool and made her more important, more interesting, more likely to be friends with the Doctor, but the reality is that why wouldn't a Time Lady like the Hatter, without the Gifted One thing, be friends or a romantic partner to the Doctor? Why did she need to be 'special' in order to be with him? She doesn't, because 'special' is a matter or perspective. The Doctor see's her as being 'special' because he loves her, it's that simple, why go adding any other 'specialness' to her? I also feel like I should have made the Master's relationship with the Hatter a little different, no romance, just a complicated friendship that eventually grew into hate. But yeah…so much I would change if I was writing the story for the first time today.**_

 _ **Guest (12):**_ _ **I'm afraid I haven't gotten into the comics, either, but they do sound good. I love anything multi-Doctor related…save for perhaps one episode that we shall not speak of. Ooh, I might just do that, it sounds really good. Thank you for recommending them to me :)**_

 _ **Guest (13):**_ _ **It's kind of another one of those 'What if?' stories. I think that the Hatter, as Emma Smith, would have eventually married her human boyfriend, but I'm not sure if it would have lasted. Emma would have felt like she was missing something, while the Doctor's life would have carried on as it did on the show without the Hatter, he just might have made some little reference to her every now and again. Or perhaps not, perhaps the pain of her death would have simply made it impossible for him to even speak of her.**_

 _ **Guest (14):**_ _ **If she had died at the end of 'Journey's End,' everyone would have been quite shocked, even Rose, I think, would have been. I think the Hatter's death would have impacted all of them greatly, but the Doctor would have been beside himself. They were planning a wedding; he finally had a taste of what being with her romantically was like, only to have that stolen away from him. How could he be anything but inconsolable? I think, depending on how it went down, I could see the Doctor blaming the Meta-Crises or the Meta-Crises blaming the Doctor, for sure. I don't think the Doctor would have been able to handle it, not on top of losing Donna, seeing all of his friends living their own lives without him, being utterly alone again without the woman he loves. I think, in his mind, he would feel as though there was nothing left for him to live for. Take from that what you will.**_

 _ **Guest (15):**_ _ **The Hatter would have been beyond terrified, she would have petrified. She might not have been there at the end, but she had heard enough for the Doctor to know that the War had turned into pure hell in the end. The Doctor would have been lost without her, but he would have tried to keep going, in her name. I don't think she would be surprised to learn that the Doctor would actually save Gallifrey, she would be so proud of him and delighted to hear that he was still alive, that he was still out there, fighting and running around time and space. Yes, I would imagine that she would have been locked up; she would have been too much of a threat to Rassilon's control, so she wouldn't be able to hear very much about what else the Doctor was possibly up to. I could so see the Master taking her along with him, kind of like he randomly turns up in her cell one day and just casually asks her 'Are you coming or what?' I imagine her not even pausing to follow, because to her it's a chance to get back to the Doctor and to be free, she doesn't know that the Doctor will find a way back to Gallifrey in Hell Bent. I don't see her being a prisoner of the Master, exactly, kind of more like a reluctant companion, at first. The reunion between the Doctor and the Hatter, I just see the two of them hugging each other and the Doctor kissing her head, while she would probably cry and cling to him even harder.**_

 _ **I actually love the idea, yet another possible 'what if?' story.**_

 _ **Guest (16):**_ _ **I so liked all of the new companions, for different reasons, but I'd have to pick Yaz as my favourite, mainly because I just felt like I got to know her better then Graham or Ryan, who I kind of felt like paired up all the time, while Yaz stuck around the Doctor more. That's kind of what the companion is supposed to do, in my eyes, hence my dislike for having so many companions, even if I think they're great characters.**_

 _ **Guest (17):**_ _ **I love all the Doctor's, but I'd have to pick Ten as my favourite New Who Doctor, since he was my first Doctor, while I'd have to pick Four as my favourite Classic. Tom Banker just fit the roe so perfectly, I truly felt like he was just the Doctor.**_

 _ **Guest (18):**_ _ **Eventually, I'm sure we'll find out how they died. I just have yet to write it yet :)**_

 _ **Guest (19):**_ _ **It will probably sound terrible, but I actually kind of preferred it when she was killed by the Raven. I think it was cleaner, I guess, rather than dragging it out, but I also really enjoyed Hell Bent. I'm not sure I like the idea of Clara being out there somewhere, I feel like I preferred it when she died because we had that conclusion to her character, while I feel like her going off at the end of Hell Bent just felt a little…I don't know, like it didn't really conclude properly and left it open, in a way. I like closure and everything to be clear, so perhaps that's just me.**_

 _ **Guest (20):**_ _ **If the Hatter had never crossed paths with the Hatter, I think she would have lived a very boring and dull life. She would have been horribly lonely, depressed, even, I think she would have felt as though she was an alien within her own family. She would have never gotten in trouble at school, she would have gone on and still married, still had her children, but she would have been miserable, her children would have been her one solace. Eventually, I think she would have still run away, but I imagine it would have taken centuries longer.**_

 _ **Guest (21):**_ _ **Who says there isn't already a Hatter who didn't wear a hat? Honestly, yes, I do believe that there is a possibility that there is a Hatter who might not wear a hat, we've seen her shun wearing her hat due to being grief stricken, to me her hat is like her promise, like the Doctor's name is his promise, to me the Hatter's hat is her own personal promise to herself to be positive and happy, to search for the joy in the Universe and to always find something to admire in the brilliance of it all. So it's possible, certainly.**_

 _ **Guest (22):**_ _ **There was actually a point when the Hatter regenerated into her Eleventh body, where I actually considered having her suffer from memory loss as she recovered from the regeneration. I'd forgotten I'd even considered that, actually. But as to if the Hatter became a Time Lady again and then forgot about her past, I think the Doctor would have been quite shocked and disappointed, but I think he would have worked with her, tried to be slow with her. I think he would have tried to share stories with her, without overwhelming her or making her feel as though she ought to be someone else. I think she would have been very afraid, having no idea who she was or what was going on, but I think she'd sense that she could trust the Doctor.**_

 _ **Guest (23):**_ _ **I'm happy you liked it, and I kept it short because I felt like that was what I wanted to cover in regards to that 'what if?' story between the Ninth Doctor and Hatter. I did consider writing Rose into it, but it wasn't about Rose, it was about the Doctor and the Hatter, and how their relationship would have differed. Nine, I feel, was more prepared to throw everything to the wind to be with her, while Ten was afraid of losing their friendship. Perhaps they would have had a child sooner, or perhaps they never would have, but I left it up for the reader to decide and for myself, if I should ever wish to, the chance to pick up the story again. There is a massive amount of potential, you're right, so many possible things that could happen, so what do you think happened? How do you think it might have changed?**_

 _ **Guest (24):**_ _ **I know exactly what happened to the Hatter's TARDIS…but I'm not going to say. I will say that's it's on Earth, but nothing more. I've yet to decide completely what I wish to do with it, but I have an idea.**_

 _ **Guest (25):**_ _ **I think the Doctor would have been heartbroken, I imagine he would have insisted upon being the one to tell the Hatter's parents, but given the fact that he was, technically, a criminal, I don't believe he would have had the chance. He would have been sent to Earth, forced to regenerate, all the while still grieving. I imagine that later, once he was pardoned, he would have returned to Gallifrey and perhaps left a mark on a tree in remembrance to her.**_

 _ **Guest (26):**_ _ **They would have found another way around it, they couldn't just allow Rassilon to carry out his plan, it had to be stopped, so I imagine they probably would have created something similar to the Moment, but perhaps not quite as good. Something that doesn't have a consciousness, at the very least.**_

 _ **Guest (27):**_ _ **I'd love to see more of the companions all working together, rather than being sent off into pairs, like we've been seeing in season Twelve. I'd love to see more of their personalities, same with the Doctor, and I'd love to see more references to Classic Who. I kind of really want to see the Doctor explain 'Oh, yeah, I used to be a bloke. No biggie'. I feel like Graham's reaction to that would be so funny.**_

 _ **Guest (28):**_ _ **I certainly could, and I shall put it on my list. Thanks for the suggestion :)**_

 _ **Guest (29):**_ _ **I'm afraid I can't say, since I haven't listened to any of the audio dramas, but it sounds interesting.**_

 _ **Guest (30):**_ _ **I would have to agree, I think that the Hartnell era deserves to be watched more then it probably is. It was the start of Doctor Who, it was produced by a woman during a time when women were barely allowed to do more then make tea. I think it does deserve to be given more attention then it tends to get, but the same could be said for all of Classic Who. I always get so excited when I hear that someone's a Doctor Who fan, it's a little sad when I learn that they've never seen Classic Who. Of course, it doesn't make someone any less of a fan, but I do love to come across other people who I can laugh with about how bad some of the sets and monsters were back in the day.**_


	16. Chapter 16 The Rings of Akhaten, Part 1

_**The Rings of Akhaten, Part 1**_

It was a cool, windy Autumn day in the year 1981, and the Doctor and the Hatter found themselves sitting upon a wooden bench within the small bus shelter by the side of the near empty street, discreetly observing the seemingly perfectly ordinary, human man wondering slowly down the leaf strewn, quiet street, frowning to himself as he went, trying to read his map as he walked, though the wind was making it rather challenging. Carefully, the Hatter lowered her rather battered copy of _Alice in Wonderland_ , casting the approaching man a careful look, while beside her the Doctor pretended to be reading a copy of _The Beano Summer Special, 1981_. But the man was far from just any ordinary man, this man happened to be David Oswald, Clara's father, and this, by all accounts of his timeline that the Time Lords had practically studied, was a very special day, indeed. This was the day, the very hour, in fact, that David Oswald would meet his future wife and mother of his only child, Elena 'Ellie' Ravenwood.

The Time Lady watched him curiously, before she quickly ducked back behind her book, taking little notice of the words written across the slightly yellowed pages. They had traced the Oswald family as far back as they could, trying to find any means of determining just how any of this mess was possible, but nothing strange seemed to pop out throughout all of their research into Clara's family tree. By all accounts, the Oswald family was quite normal, which only made them all the more puzzled. How could the same girl, the _exact_ same girl, by all appearances, possibly keep turning up and dying in seemingly unrelated events throughout both the Doctor and the Hatter's timelines? How could Clara also be Os, a Time Lady and niece to the Hatter? How was any of it even remotely possible? They were starting to grow just a little desperate, trying to solve the mystery.

The Hatter released a small sigh, narrowing her eyes as she lowered her book an inch, peering out over the top of it, as the Doctor did the same beside her, Amy's old glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. They watched silently as David Oswald grew increasingly frustrated with his attempts to straighten the map in the wind, when a rather amusing incident occurred. A large, brown leaf suddenly flew off the tree he was just walking by, hitting him directly in the face, blinding him as he quickly reached up to try and pull it off. The Hatter couldn't help laughing at the sight of the poor man, so startled by the leaf clinging to his face, that he stumbled into the middle of the road. Her laughter, however, faded slightly as she noticed a car quickly coming up the road behind the blinded man, speeding towards him with no sign of even stopping…suddenly, a young, brown haired woman dashed out onto the road and grabbed David, pulling him back to safety onto the footpath, just as he turned around and finally freed himself from the leaf.

"Well, _this_ feels familiar," the Doctor murmured, his face partly obscured by his book, though the Hatter could see him smiling as he glanced sideways at her.

"I dropped a book on top of your head, sweetheart," the Hatter reminded him, her cheeks colouring very slightly at the memory. What an excellent first impression to make, though considering the fact that it had resulted in their friendship, eventual marriage, and their daughter, she supposed it really wasn't such a _bad_ impression, after all. She shook her head in amusement, watching ideally as David and the woman, Ellie, spoke to each other across the street from them.

"And stole my hearts with the concussion".

She laughed again, softly and fondly, "Oh, I do love you, sweetheart".

He grinned widely, his eyes lighting up in delight, "I love you, too".

She pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, looking amused as she turned her gaze back onto the couple across the street from them. Even from the distance between them, it was clear that David was utterly smitten already by Ellie, who was smiling shyly at something that David had just said. Love was in the air, apparently.

….

The Doctor and the Hatter jumped forward a couple of weeks into David and Ellie's timelines, watching from afar while the couple began dating, going out for dinner and to watch a movie, taking long walks in one of the local parks…personally, the Hatter was starting to feel a little uncomfortable by how much they seemed to be stalking the seemingly innocent couple, so enchanted with one another that they hadn't even noticed the Time Lords shadowing them from afar. Perhaps things would be easier if there was something odd going on with either David or Ellie, but they seemed like a perfectly normal, lovely couple simply delighted to be in one another's company. It was really quite heart-warming to witness; the Hatter found her inner romantic just wanting to coo over those little shy smiles and touches of blooming love. She resisted, however…barely.

It was night time and pouring with rain, while the Doctor and the Hatter stood closely together beneath the large canopy of the black umbrella that the Time Lady brought along with them, she had almost gone with the bright yellow umbrella, but the Doctor had pointed out that it might not be very discreet. So black it was, so boring, but at least it kept them dry as they stood beneath a conveniently broken lamppost on the street across from Ellie's house, the couple laughing and giggling as they dashed up the front steps, sharing a little moment on the front doorstep as David, smiling slightly embarrassedly, gave Ellie the leaf that had resulted in their first meeting.

Clara was right, that leaf truly was page one.

"Aww," the Hatter cooed, smiling widely as she watched the two of them from afar, "I ship them".

"That's cheating," the Doctor remarked, though he gave her a fond look, "You already know they're going to get married and have Clara".

"Yeah, but _look_ at them," she waved towards the couple, just as the two of them leaned towards one another, sharing their first kiss, "They're just so…adorable. You know, I think I'm starting to understand why humans love reality TV so much".

He shook his head, giving her a soft smile as he wound his arm around her waist, tugging her closer to his side, while his right hand kept the umbrella up over them both. He sighed slightly as he glanced back across to the human couple, just as they pulled apart, exchanging wide, delighted grins, full of excitement for the future. While watching the couple together had been sweet, it had even made him wonder if that was what he and the Hatter looked like together, it didn't exactly bring them any closer to uncovering the mystery surrounding Clara.

"They might be adorable, dear," he said quietly, his expression growing grim, "But we're still just as clueless as before".

The Hatter's smile instantly dimmed, nodding sadly as she cast the love sick couple a brief look. Sadly, he was right, watching Clara's parents from afar hadn't shone any further light onto Clara, if anything it had only made matters more confusing. Clara was human, completely so, if that hadn't already been clear enough from the other times they had encountered her, so then how was it possible for her to have also have once been a Time Lady? How was it possible that the Hatter remembered holding her baby niece in her arms?

….

Time progressed for the Oswald family; the Doctor and the Hatter were there to witness their marriage, lingering in the back of the small church, always watching from afar. They choose not follow them during their honeymoon, upon the Hatter's instances that it would simply be to stalker-like in her eyes. And then, in November 1986, on the 23rd day, Clara Oswald was welcomed into the world. The Time Lords dropped by the hospital, searching for the slightest hint of any alien activity, but found nothing note worthy, Clara was just a simply a healthy baby girl, born to two obviously deliriously happy parents. They didn't allow their failure to get to them, however, watching from afar as young Clara began to grow up into a newly walking toddler and then up into an almost primary school aged little girl.

Clara was just shy of her fifth birthday, the Doctor and the Hatter watching as the young family played together in the small park just down the road from their home, little Clara dressed in a dress and bright red wellies, laughing as only a child can do as she kicked a football around on the grass, her parents playfully lightly kicking the ball between them, encouraging the girl to kick it. The Hatter smiled at the sight, her mind instantly filling with thoughts of her own little girl, still not quite old enough to run around with a football, but Astra had gotten better at catching a lightly thrown ball, clapping and laughing in delight upon archiving so. She closed her eyes at the memory, it had been so long since they had been with their little girl, it felt like eternity.

And then, suddenly, something went flying past the Hatter's face, her eyes snapping open, startled, as the Doctor gave a surprised grunt. The Time Lady blinked as she opened her eyes in time to see the Doctor hit the ground, the ball apparently having smacked him in the face before rolling off.

"Sweetheart?" she asked, her voice shaking with suppressed giggles, peering down at him as he laid flat on his back, still seeming to be trying to grasp exactly what happened to him, "Need a hand?"

"Oh, my stars!" another voice called out at the same time, sounding quite worried, "Are you alright?"

The Doctor practically sprung back onto his feet and threw himself in front of the Hatter, who barely held back a laugh, lifting his hands up before himself in a defensive martial arts position. Someone was a little jumpy, weren't they?

"Doctor," the Hatter said gently, smiling faintly as she stepped out from behind him, placing a soothing hand on his arm. She glanced across to the Oswald family, finding them watching them with concerned looks on the adults faces, while little Clara looked slightly sheepish, "Easy now," she murmured to him, "There's no alien invasion".

"Oh…" he blinked slowly, blushing faintly as he seemed to become aware of exactly what had happened. He fixed a bright smile onto his face as Ellie approached them, dropping the defensive stance to hold his hands up, instead, "It's fine," he told Ellie, who came to a stop a few feet away from them, eyeing him with a slightly wary look, clearly unsure of what to make of his initial response, "Marvellous," he continued happily, wrapping his arm around the Hatter's waist, "Refulgent…" he paused slightly, glancing at the Time Lady, "Possibly a bit embarrassed. That's not dangerous, is it, dear?"

She smirked, "Only temporally for your ego," she told him fondly, reaching up to lightly pat his cheek.

"Cheeky," he pointed at her, though he smiled widely at her teasing.

"Mate," David joined them, one hand lightly resting on little Clara's shoulder, giving the Doctor an embarrassed, apologetic smile, "I'm so sorry," he glanced at Clara, waving a hand at her, "She wants to be Bryan Robson".

"No worries," the Doctor shook his head, giving them a reassuring look, "My fault. No harm done," he smiled as he exchanged a look with the Time Lady, "We've got a little girl of our own, we completely understand…"

The Hatter laughed, "The number of times this _one_ …" she fondly swatted the Doctor's chest, "Has tripped over a block or teddy bear while putting our daughter to bed is frankly absurd. You'd think he would learn to look down walking out of the nursery by now".

"Ten times isn't a lot, Hatter!"

She ignored his protest, while Ellie and David looked amused, instead she smiled gently and crouched down, eye level with Clara's big brown eyes, "Hello," she greeted the little girl, holding out her hand towards her, "I'm…Hattie. What's your name?"

Clara hesitated slightly, peering curiously into the Time Lady's face, "Clara," she finally said, shyly reaching out to take the Hatter's offered hand.

"Oh, what a pretty name," she grinned, lightly shaking her hand, before letting it go, "It's wonderful to meet you, Clara".

Clara smiled happily, grabbing her father's hand again and swinging it.

"You've got a good kick on you, Clara," the Doctor lent down slightly, giving her a kind smile, "I bet you'll be the best football player at school, hey?"

"She's going to give the boys hell," David commented proudly, looking down at his daughter with a wide smile.

"Good girl," the Hatter smirked, winking at Clara.

….

The years past again, Clara grew older and started school, her parents remained blissfully happy with one another, Clara did well in school…history was a bit of a weak spot for her, but she excelled in English. Eventually, she moved on to high school, she wasn't the most popular girl at school, but she was well-liked by most of her peers and seemed to get along with everyone, the Hatter even found herself feeling strangely protective when it became clear that a couple of boys had began taking notice of the pretty young woman that Clara was growing into.

And then…something terrible happened.

The Doctor and the Hatter stood side-by-side, holding hands as they watched from afar as a teenage Clara stood beside her aging father before the fresh headstone belonging to Ellie Oswald, died on the 5th of March, 2005. Clara and her father stared mournfully down at the grave, silent in their grief, utterly unaware of the Time Lords presence, for which the Hatter felt grateful.

"We shouldn't be here," the Hatter whispered, her hat held down by her side in her free hand, feeling her hearts going out for the Oswald family. She felt as though she had come to know them quite well after all this time watching them from afar. To be here, watching as Clara and her father grieved for Ellie, it felt as though they were intruding. She glanced at the Doctor, his expression grim, "I think we've learnt as much as we're going to learn, sweetheart".

"Yes," the Doctor nodded, casting Clara and her father's back a quick glance, "Yes, dear," he sighed, his breath misting into the chilled air, "I think you're right. Time to go".

The Hatter allowed him to pull her away, but not quite before young Clara happened to glance over her shoulder, catching their eyes just before they slipped away through the mist of the graveyard. If she recognised them at all from all the years of them watching her from afar, she made no sign of it. Together, the Time Lords returned to the TARDIS, letting the doors swing shut behind them as they walked over to the console, the Doctor frowning deeply as he let go of the Hatter's hand to grab the monitor, pulling it around to face them. On the screen, the image of the Victorian version of Clara looked back at them, smiling faintly in the black and white picture.

"She's just a girl," he narrowed his eyes on the picture, as though staring at it for what must have been the hundredth time already would force it to reveal the truth.

"And yet, she's not," the Hatter said gravely, absently putting her hat back on top of her head, crossing her arms across her chest. She eyed the picture, taking in every detail, but by now she felt as though she could probably accurately count each and every one of Clara's eyelashes from having spent so much time studying the image, "She's…impossible," she shook her head slowly, just as the picture changed to an image of Oswin Oswald's Starship Alaska name badge, "Everything about her screams human, but yet…"

"She _can't_ be," the Doctor glanced at her, his frown deepening, "Can she?"

The image changed to a picture of Clara Oswald, smiling widely upon her graduation day as she tossed her cap into the air, just having completed her teaching degree.

"She is," she said firmly, little doubt in her mind that Clara was completely human…she sighed sadly as the picture changed again, this time showing an image of the same girl sitting upon a high backed chair, dressed in scarlet and orange robes as she looked back at them with a tiny smile upon her face, her brown hair styled high on top of her head, Rassilon's seal pinned to her front. Os, it was a replica of a family portrait that the Hatter remembered hanging on the wall of her family's home, so lifelike that one could almost reach out and touch the subject. She supposed that was probably why she had always found the family portraits at home slightly creepy, being 3-D really did make it feel as though they were watching you, "Or…at least she is _mostly_ ," she finished, eyeing the old portrait.

The Doctor placed a hand on her lower back, giving her a sympathetic look. All this time they had hoped, one day, to stumble across another Time Lord who had survived, only to discover one that wasn't even a Time Lord now, just someone who, for whatever impossible reason, happened to look exactly like one who died well before the Time War even started. It was bad enough that Clara also just so happened to look just like the Hatter's niece on top of all that. None of it made any sense, they had combed through every single thing about Clara and the counterparts that they had met of her thus far, and nothing strange had popped up. They had even, very carefully, checked to make sure that she didn't have an old fob watch hidden away, but that had proven fruitless.

"She's not possible," he scowled back up at the monitor, just as the image returned to the Victorian version. He wanted this mystery solved, quickly, he worried what emotional stress this was causing to the Hatter, it was bad enough that they had been forced to send their daughter away, _again_ , but to also have to face a girl who looked just like someone that the Hatter had once loved and grieved? Even the Hatter had her limits. He just wanted things to go back to normal, to have their family together again, travelling the Universe and having fun…but they couldn't do that until they had solved Clara Oswin Oswald.

The Hatter touched his arm, giving him a small smile, "I suppose we'll just have to go about this the long way around," she told him, glancing back at the screen, eyeing it thoughtfully, "If Clara's past doesn't hold the answer, then perhaps her future will".

….

The Doctor and the Hatter landed the TARDIS in the front garden of the Maitland home, only just the day after their first adventure with this version of the girl. They exchanged a quick look with one another, the Hatter fixing a smile onto her face as she reached out and took the Doctor's hand…this would be the first proper adventure with Clara, another chance for them to continue to discreetly observe her, test her to see just what sort of person she truly was, and while it did make the Time Lady feel rather uncomfortable, they had to do it. They needed answers, for Astra's sake, if not their own.

They left the TARDIS and stepped outside into the Maitland's front garden, moving straight for the front door, which the Hatter rung the doorbell of. Clara, it would seem, had been waiting for them, because it took her less than ten seconds to open the door, smiling excitedly at them with a dark red satchel bag slung across her front, while she clutched her large _101 Places To See_ book to her chest.

"Well?" the Doctor lifted and eyebrow, smiling as he rubbed his hands together, giving away little of how truly suspicious he was of the girl standing before them, "Are you coming or what?"

"I was waiting on you two," Clara shot back with a cheeky smile, stepping outside, shutting the door behind her. She gave them a mock frown, "What took you so long?"

"Traffic was terrible," the Hatter replied with a grin, winking.

Her large eyes widened, "Wait, is that _actually_ a thing?" she asked eagerly, "Traffic in _space_?"

"Of course not," the Doctor dismissed it with a wave of his hand, exchanging an amused look with the Time Lady, "That would be ridiculous. Traffic in _time_ , on the other hand…" he trailed off purposely, looking thoughtful.

The Hatter laughed as Clara frowned properly this time, "Never mind that," she shook her head, letting go of the Doctor's hand to link her arm with Clara's instead, "Come on, we've got places to see and adventures to be had".

She turned and led the way back over to the time machine, smiling happily when the TARDIS doors clicked open without her even needing to reach for her key tucked away inside her pocket. The old girl was rather fond of her, after all. She led Clara inside, the Doctor following right on their heels, closing the door behind him as the Hatter dropped her arm from around Clara's, swiftly moving towards the console. Out of the corner of her eye, as she began to preparing the TARDIS to take off again, she watched as Clara smiled widely, looking around the impossibly large room with childlike wonder written across her features, still seeming to be quite amazed by the box. Blimey, she hoped the girl wasn't a threat, she really did like her.

"You might want to hold on," she advised the girl with a smile, "Flying through time can get a little bumpy".

Clara's eyes widened again at the mention of time travel, though she did as she was told, grabbing the nearest railing to herself, her beloved book quickly tucked safely away inside her bag. The Doctor soon joined the Hatter at the controls, the two of them moving around the control panels in perfect sync, while Clara watched them work with curious eyes. Once they had entered the Time Vortex, the Doctor hit the hand break, bringing them to a gentle idle, calming the shaking and jolting of the ship.

"So…" Clara began slowly, looking around again as she let go of the railing she had been using to balance herself during the short flight, "We're moving through actual time?" she moved closer to the closed door, staring at it for a moment, while the Doctor and the Hatter exchanged smiles. Regardless of their concerns regarding Clara, they had missed the sense of wonder only a human could have when first travelling through time and space. She gave a little giggle and spun back around to face them, "So what's it made of, time?" she hurried back over to where they were standing by the controls, "I mean, if you can rotor through it, it's got to be made of stuff, like jam's made of strawberries. So what's it made of?"

"Well, not strawberries," the Doctor told her with a slightly alarmed expression at the thought, the Hatter, however, laughed at the unusual comparison, "No," he shook his head, seeming to be taking the idea very seriously, "No, no, no. That would be unacceptable".

"But tasty," the Hatter added brightly, imagining it. Strawberry jam was her favourite type of jam, in pretty much all of her regenerations, save for the First one…Gallifrey didn't have jam or strawberries, and her Sixth body had a fondness for blackberry, instead. Beside her, the Doctor shot her a fond look, wrapping his arm around her waist.

Clara didn't seem to be listening, eyeing the TARDIS doors with an excited look, "And we can go anywhere?" she looked eagerly back to the Time Lords.

"Pretty much," the Time Lady nodded, before pausing, frowning vaguely as she gave her a thoughtful look, "It depends, however. Some places are impossible for us to go, for instance taking someone back to their own past. I mean…" she frowned slightly, her forehead scrunching up, "Sure, you can still _go_ there, but it's not a good idea. It's very, very dangerous to cross one's own time stream, so we don't do it".

She gave the Doctor a sharp look at that, as he suddenly seemed to become interested in his boots, recalling that he had once confessed to her, rather reluctantly, that he had allowed Rose Tyler to go back to the day that her father had died, only to end up making a complete disaster of it all when Rose ended up getting herself mixed up in the events in question, saving her father from the car that should have killed him. When he had told her that, the Hatter had very nearly shaken him, what had he been thinking? Of course Rose wasn't just going to stand by and watch her dad die, how could she not have stepped in to try and stop it? It was a natural instinct. They did not and would not have the same thing happen with Clara, a girl who had lost her mother in a tragic accident.

"I knew I shouldn't have told you about that," the Doctor muttered sheepishly, giving her an apologetic look.

"Probably not, no," she agreed, her eyes narrowed with disproving. If Rose had been her companion, that would never have happened, it was just a recipe for disaster.

"Okay, so…" Clara cut in, spinning back around from the door, having been staring at them thoughtfully, apparently ignoring the Time Lords discussion, "We could go backwards in time".

"And space," the Doctor nodded in agreement, "Yes".

"And forwards in time".

"And space. Totally".

The Hatter smiled faintly, eyeing the Doctor with a knowing look…something told her he really wanted to go on a space adventure this time, though he wouldn't actually say that, since it was Clara's first proper go in the TARDIS. He really could be so transparent sometimes. She decided not to call him out on it, however, he'd only blush and deny it, anyway, so instead she turned towards Clara, lifting an eyebrow.

"So, Clara," she said happily, flashing the girl a bright smile, "The _whole_ of time and space, right at your beck and call. What do you want to do first?" she held a hand out towards the doors, not looking away from the excited expression on Clara's face, "What do you want to see?"

Clara grinned and went to open her mouth, before she paused, frowning slightly, "I don't know," she confessed, making both Time Lords blink slightly, taken aback by how quickly she almost seemed to deflate, "You know when someone asks you what's your favourite book and straight away you forget every single book you've ever read?"

"No," the Doctor replied at once, "Totally not".

"Is it kind of like when you're chatting to someone on the phone and can't think of anything to say?" the Hatter asked thoughtfully.

"Eh, kind of, yeah".

"Oh, well," her expression instantly cleared, giving her an almost apologetic smile, "Sorry, can't say I've ever experienced that before. I never run out of things to say".

Clara gave her a strange look, before shaking her head, "Well, that's a thing that…happens," she sighed, apparently deciding that neither Time Lord really understood what she was trying to explain to them.

" _And_?" the Doctor prompted pointedly, giving her a slightly inpatient look, "Back to the question?"

"Okay," she nodded, straightening as she began thinking it over, getting back to what the Hatter had originally asked, "So…so…so…" she held up both of her index fingers, pointing them at the Time Lords, before she turned and dashed over towards the doors, her back to them, "So I'd like to see…I would like to see…What would I like to see is…" she paused, before whirling back around to face them, smiling, "Something awesome".

The Doctor and the Hatter grinned, exchanging an excited grins as they instantly turned around to the controls, setting them off. If Clara wanted to see something awesome, they certainly could deliver _that_.

….

The Hatter felt rather giddy with excitement as she opened the TARDIS doors, glancing back over her shoulder to check on the Doctor, who was carefully guiding Clara along ahead of him, Clara's eyes squeezed shut. In the end, after a quick round of debating with each other in whispers, the Hatter had conceded with the Doctor's idea, it shouldn't prove to be too much excitement for Clara's very first adventure, but it would also give the girl a good taste of different alien races and cultures, something that could tend to come as a bit of shock to companions when first introduced to a new species. This way, they could hopefully get some of that out of the way and, honestly, what woman didn't enjoy a bit of shopping? Well, unless you were a Time Lady.

The Time Lady smiled as she looked out over the large asteroid that they had parked themselves upon, providing them with the perfect view of what looked to be an even greater asteroid floating in space, a large city seemingly built on top of it, while more, smaller asteroids and chunks of rock drifted past it, like rings. Overshadowing the main asteroid was a massive, bright orange and red sun planet, casting them all with a reddish light. It was a beautiful sight, one that the Hatter wished Astra could see, but they would have to bring her back another time.

"Can you feel the light on your eyelids?" the Doctor asked Clara, carefully guiding her forward, letting the TARDIS doors slip closed behind him.

"Mhmm," Clara hummed in acknowledgment.

The Hatter pulled her eyes off the view, glancing back to Clara, "That's your first experience of an alien sun, Clara," she told her, gently taking her arm, "Now, just step forward a tad more…" she lightly tugged Clara a few steps forward, before glancing back out at the asteroid and the sun, nodding to herself in satisfaction that Clara ought to have the best view of the sun from that position, "Alright, I think that ought to do it".

"Are you ready?" the Doctor looked back to Clara, dropping his hands from her upper arms as he moved to stand next to the Hatter, taking her hand instead.

"Yes," Clara smiled, before she quickly frowned, "No," she shook her head, making the Time Lords look at her expectedly, waiting, "…yes?"

"You're going to love it," the Hatter reassured her, laughing slightly at her response.

Clara nodded slowly at that, before she began to open her eyes, her lips lifting faintly as she took in the sight before her, amazement filling her features.

"Welcome to the Rings of Akhaten," the Doctor told her, smiling as he made a sweeping gesture towards the view before them.

"It's…" she began slowly, looking utterly speechless, gazing out with wonder and disbelief.

"It _is_ ," he finished for her, grinning excitedly. The Hatter couldn't help joining in with his excitement, smiling widely herself, his green eyes lit up with delight, "It _so_ completely _is_. But wait!" he pointed at Clara, who had also started to smile, "There is more".

"More what?" she questioned, seeming unable to look away.

"Just give it another moment," the Hatter said brightly, her eyes fixed firmly on the view, though her entire body was practically buzzing with excitement, "Just wait until you see, in…three, two, one…"

She had barely finished counting down, before a slightly larger asteroid that had been lingering by the edge of the city drifted off to the side, revealing another asteroid with what appeared to be a large pyramid-like temple built on top of it, shining in the light of the sun with a golden hue.

Clara's eyes widened, "What is it?" she asked quietly, sounding awed.

"The Pyramid of the Rings of Akhaten," the Doctor informed her, looking out at the outlook, "It's a holy site for the Sun Singers of Akhat".

"The who of what?"

"Where we're standing right now," the Hatter began, giving Clara a faint smile as she looked completely baffled by what the Doctor had tried to explain to her, "Is made up of seven different worlds, all of whom sharing that _one_ star…" she pointed across to the sun, drawing Clara's eyes back ahead of her, "They orbit the same star, similar to Earth and its sun, all seven worlds sharing the same belief that life within the Universe was first started right here, on that very planet. Can you imagine it?" she shook her head in wonder, this was exactly the sort of thing that had made her want to travel as a child, " _Seven_ different worlds, each with _different_ cultures and races, but they all share one common belief. I think that's just beautiful".

The Doctor pulled her closer to his side, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek, "If only more worlds were like that, dear," he commented, smiling gently at the way her hazel green eyes were lit up with happiness at the thought, her delight warming his hearts to see. He hadn't seen her look quite that carefree since they had said goodbye to Astra, he hoped it was a good sign that this adventure would help to do her some good and get her to have some fun.

"Do you mean _all_ life?" Clara asked curiously, glancing back to the Time Lady, smiling softly at the thought.

"In the Universe," the Doctor nodded.

"Did it?"

"That's an excellent question;" the Hatter said lightly, considering it briefly, "For the seven worlds that live here, the answer would be yes. But in reality?" she paused, meeting Clara's eyes, "Well, who knows?" she gave a slight shrug, smiling faintly, "Regardless, I'm sure it must bring them peace, and I do love a nice story, don't you?"

"Can we see it? Up close?"

The Doctor laughed, exchanging an amused look with the Hatter, "Why do you think we're here?" he said, "Come on!" he and the Hatter turned on their heels, quickly heading back to the TARDIS, leaving Clara to hurry along behind them.

….

The Doctor and the Hatter brought the TARDIS to a smooth landing, laughing with eagerness to do a bit of showing off as they instantly made a dash for the doors, Clara just barely managing to keep up with the two of them as they threw the doors open and ran outside. They had landed in the middle of what appeared to be a market place, positively brimming with different alien races as they milled around the market, some looking at what the stalls lining the dirt pathways had on offer, while others bustled around with items they had already purchased in their arms. The air was full of different languages, different smells from alien food being sold or even alien flowers that were up for sale at a nearby stall. The market was a hive of activity.

The Hatter smiled gently at Clara, who had stopped suddenly to stare around in shock at the sight of so many aliens going about their business without so much as a second glance in their direction, her mouth slipping open and her eyes growing positively huge, taking it all in. The Time Lady reached out to lightly pat her arm, making her blink slightly from her shock.

"It's a bit of a shock the first time, I know," she said gently, giving her a supportive look, "But you'll be surprised how quickly you will get used to it".

"It's…" Clara slowly shook her head, staring around at everything, clearly trying to take in as much as she possibly could, "It's…wow! It's actually _another_ planet".

"Yep," the Doctor grinned proudly, snaking his arm around the Hatter's waist, "It's _definitely_ an alien planet. Ooh...excuse me," he suddenly dropped his arm from around the Time Lady, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek as he headed off over towards the flower stall, looking quite determined.

The Hatter shook her head fondly, turning back to Clara, " _So_?" she lifted an eyebrow, slowly starting to walk down the pathway, peering curiously at the stalls as they past them. Clara kept in step with her, still staring around in wonder, "Any questions?" she smirked slightly, "Oh, come on, we've been here less than a minute, surely you've already thought up a dozen to ask?"

Clara giggled slightly, hearing her teasing tone, "Where are they from?" she turned back to the Time Lady.

"Oh, most of them live in this system," she told her lightly, pausing briefly to take a closer look at one of the stalls they were just passing by, giving the purple skinned vendor a polite smile. She glanced back over her shoulder to Clara, "But sometimes you'll get some travellers, like us, passing through".

"What do I call them?"

She smiled at that, looking back to the girl with an approving look. Already she could see that Clara was starting to settle into this new environment, her own curiosity would certainly helping her to go far while travelling with them, if not likely also in several prison cells along the way, too. But that wasn't always such a bad thing, depending on the prison cell, something that the Hatter and the Doctor could practically write a thesis on by now. No, better Clara settle into being surrounded by aliens and different cultures quickly, without being to overwhelmed by it all, it was an excellent mark of being a good companion, in the Hatter's eyes. She just hoped that Clara turned out to be trustworthy to be able to keep that status. She went to answer, when the Doctor caught up with them again, falling back into step with the Hatter, holding a rather large, pink and yellow checked bouquet of flowers in his hand, the stems a bright blue.

"Something for you, my dear," he said with a wide smile, holding the flowers out to the Time Lady.

"Aw, sweetheart," she cooed, giving him a brilliant smile as she took them from him, "You shouldn't have," she brought them up to her nose to take a sniff, laughing in delight as a strange mixture of peppermint and coffee filled her senses.

The Doctor looked thrilled at the sound of her laughter, as though nothing in the Universe could have made him happier in the moment, taking her other hand, "What did I miss?" he asked, looking between Clara and the Hatter.

"I was just asking about what you call all these…" Clara hesitated, lowering her voice slightly, "Aliens," she gave a small, embarrassed smile, "I mean, different races have different names, don't they?"

He nodded in confirmation, "Well, let's see…" he turned to look down the pathway ahead of them, practically shoulder-to-shoulder packed with aliens, some with purple skin, while others had scales, "Ah! There go some Panbabylonians!" he pointed into the middle of the crowd at a pair of blue skinned aliens, slowly leading them down through the pathway and the crowd as he continued, "A Lugal-Irra-Kush. Some Lucanians. A Hooloovoo. Ah!" he paused before a slightly shorter alien, dressed in armour and with a black hood mostly obscuring its face, "Qom VoTivig".

He held up his right hand and they almost seemed to high-five one another, before they both leaned close into each other's faces, shaking their heads as they lightly touched noses, before straightening, clapping hands again, ending with a pelvic thrust that very nearly had the Hatter needing to excuse herself as she desperately tried not to giggle, her lips trembling from the effort of keeping her smile in place. Clara, who stood slightly behind them, watched the whole exchange with a delighted smile. The alien gave the Doctor a grunt before he turned and kept on walking past them, leaving them to watch him disappear into the bustling crowds.

"That chap's a Terraberserker of the Kodion Belt," the Doctor remarked to the Hatter and Clara, the Time Lady still looking rather amused, having only crossed paths with the species once before, quite some time ago, "You don't see them around anymore. Oh!" he suddenly exclaimed in delight, tugging the Hatter forward a few feet, peering eagerly at an almost robot-like alien, "That's an Ultramancer!"

"Blimey," the Hatter shook her head, giving the alien a friendly smile and nod as it stiffly walked past them, "I Forgot how packed this place was," she looked around at all the different species and cultures, loving every second of being surrounded by it all, once again reminded of why she had wanted to travel so badly as a little girl. It hadn't been about running about, saving the Universe back then, that had just been an accident, no, it had been about all of this…learning about different cultures, meeting new species, experiencing and learning from them. She grinned broadly as she looked back to the Doctor, still carefully grasping her flowers in her left hand, "I love it, sweetheart. This was truly the perfect place to come".

"I knew you'd love it, dear," he said happily, his eyes lighting up, "We should come here more often".

Clara looked curiously between them, "You've been here before?" she asked.

"Oh, only once," the Hatter replied, casting her eyes around at all the aliens surrounding them. She did so love Earth and the humans, but she did so enjoy being surrounded by other so called 'aliens,' "It was a very long time ago," she went on lightly, "I was only just starting out myself, getting to enjoy a bit of freedom…I brought my first two companions here with me, Max and Alice".

"Yes, and I came here a long time ago, too," the Doctor added absently, looking around at a few of the nearby stalls, craning his neck slightly to see over the crowd, "With my granddaughter".

Clara's mouth almost hit the ground, her eyes widening in shock.

The Hatter laughed at her face, trailing along beside the Doctor as they began to keep walking, "Oh, I bet Susan would have loved it," she said fondly, thinking about dear Susan, such a sweet, innocent girl who always insisted upon calling her 'Aunty Hatter,' even though they were technically third cousins. It had been the Doctor's doing, he had always encouraged Susan, right from an infant, to call the Hatter Aunty, much to his daughter, Susan's mother, and his then wife's great displeasure. It never stopped him, however, and Susan seemed stuck with it by the time she began speaking.

"She did," he nodded, thinking back to his lovely granddaughter, how excited she had been, eagerly going from stall to stall. He had been a tad grumpy with her; he regretted that now, scolding her lightly to 'Calm down, child. There's no need to be in such a rush'. But they had spent a nice day together, it had been one of the very first places they had gone to, right before they ended up getting stuck on Earth, "I still remember how disappointed Susan was that you weren't there to see it," he sighed slightly, giving the Hatter a gentle smile, reassuring her that he didn't blame her in any way for staying behind like she had. She had done so to be with her children, as she was right to do as a mother, _he_ shouldn't have asked her to leave them in the first place, "She loved you so dearly, Hatter, for weeks after we left Gallifrey all she ever talked about was how much she missed you".

"And I missed her," she said quietly, feeling a great wave of sadness wash over her. She wished Susan was still alive today, she would have been so thrilled to introduce her to Astra, who she was sure would have adored Susan and Susan would have positively loved Astra. She edged slightly closer to his side, leaning against him, "I still do, sweetheart".

The Doctor gave her a weak smile, grief and pain crossing his features briefly, before it was gone within a flash and he was smiling widely again, as though nothing was wrong at all. Not a day went by when he didn't think of the family he had loved and lost on Gallifrey, of the granddaughter he had taken away with him across the stars. His marriage might have been destined to be miserable from the start, how could it not be when he had been so deeply in love with the Hatter even back then? But he had loved his son and daughter, he hadn't wanted to have children at the time, the thought of bringing them into a utterly loveless marriage had made him feel ill, but they had brought some moments of joy and light, playing with them in their nursery, holding his daughter in his arms as he tinkered away inside his little workshop with one hand, teaching his son to play chess with him. But then they had gone off to school and that was it, until Susan came along. Little Susan, who had been so sweet and kind, she had reminded him so much of the Hatter, he had wanted nothing but to protect that sweetness, and so he had taken her with him when he ran away. He only wished he had been able to do the same thing to with his children, before it had been too late.

"Ooh!" he suddenly stopped, bringing the Hatter to a stop, too, looking at something sitting on a stall just ahead of them, "Oh, they look interesting. Come on, dear".

The Hatter allowed him to pull her over towards the stall, where he went straight for a small basket of bright blue, illuminated fruit of some sort, eyeing them curiously with a slight frown. He picked up the basket and took a sniff of them, before glancing at the Hatter, lifting an eyebrow.

"How very curious, indeed," she commented with a sniff of the spheres, a smell similar to that of a Earth watermelon filling her nose, though she suspected it would likely taste rather different.

"There you are!" Clara suddenly appeared by the Time Lady's right elbow, looking deeply relieved to see them, "You just walked off!" she accused them with a huff.

"Oh, I am terribly sorry, Clara," the Hatter winced, giving her a sheepish look, "The Doctor and I got a little…distracted by old memories. I truly am very sorry".

"Here, Clara," the Doctor held the basket out towards Clara, who seemed to have at least gotten over her shock at hearing that the Doctor once had a granddaughter. She looked at the spheres curiously, before reaching into the basket to take one, "Exotic fruit of some description," he explained to her, slipping his hand into his pocket and withdrawing his sonic screwdriver, flashing it at the fruit still left in the basket. He checked the results after a brief moment, "Right. Non-toxic, non-hallucinogenic. High in free radicals and low in other stuff, I shouldn't wonder".

Clara didn't seem overly concerned by results, taking a curious bite from the fruit clasped between both hands. She chewed on it for a moment, before pulling a face and lowering her hands, shaking her head.

"No?" he lifted an eyebrow at her, sitting the basket on the edge of the stall table.

"I'm don't think it's really meant for humans," the Hatter commented lightly, plucking the partly eaten fruit out of Clara's hands, shrugging to herself as she stuck it into her pocket for later.

Clara nodded firmly in agreement with the Hatter's assessment, swallowing her mouthful as she turned around to peer around the bustling market, "So, why is everyone here?" she asked them, using her finger to carefully wipe her mouth of any juice.

"Ah," the Doctor grinned, slipping his hand back into the Hatter's, setting them off once more, "For the Festival of Offerings," he said, while Clara quickly trailed along on their heels, listening intently, "Takes place every thousand years or so, when the rings align".

"It's considered to be a very important event," the Hatter added, glancing back over her shoulder to Clara, who was smiling happily, "To the locals, I suppose it would be a bit like Christmas or…Easter, perhaps. It's a religious ceremony".

"Ooh, look, dear!" the Doctor suddenly exclaimed and, like an excited six year old who had just spotted a toy shop, started tugging on the Hatter's hand. She laughed at his delight, allowing him to pull her over to a stall just around a bend, which seemed to be selling children's toys, brightly coloured and very alien looking, in comparison to an Earth toy, but they had a similar use to them as some Earth toys.

The Time Lady eagerly swept her eyes over the brightly coloured display, feeling a pang in her hearts at the thought of how Astra's little face would have lit up at the sight, how they probably would have had to hold her back from grabbing at everything within her short reach, how a tantrum likely would have ensued when they didn't let her grab as many of the toys as she possibly could, while the poor vendor watched on. Blimey, you knew that you were missing someone when even putting up with a Time Tots temper tantrum in the middle of a market was something you missed. The Hatter smiled sadly as she reached out and lightly touched the purple and lime green dress that a bright blue doll was dressed in, the fabric feeling like a silk against her skin…

"Eh, Doctor, Hatter?" Clara's alarmed voice rang out.

The Hatter exchanged a quick, worried look with the Doctor as they swiftly turned around from the toys, hurrying back around the bend to find Clara standing before a rather dog-like alien, its sharp, pointed teeth peeking out over the top of its bottom lip as it growled low in its throat at Clara, its eyes deeply sunken into its head and wearing a thick chain around its neck. The Time Lords instantly moved to Clara's side, the Time Lady placing a reassuring hand on Clara's shoulder, seeing how startled she was. Her alarm wasn't lessened by the Doctor's short, sharp barking back at the alien, doing a rather good impression of a small, yappy dog.

"What's happening?" she asked in a rush to the Hatter, her eyes wide, "Why is it angry?"

The Doctor, who had been smiling happily at the alien, blinked slightly and glanced at her, "This isn't an _it_ , it's a _she_ ," he corrected her, pointing back to the alien, "Dor'een, meet Clara and my lovely wife, the Hatter. Clara, Hatter, meet Dor'een," he introduced them, smiling again as he turned back to the alien.

"Dor'een?" Clara repeated, laughing slightly, looking utterly delighted.

"I imagine a little something was lost in translation," the Hatter said to Clara, looking faintly amused, "Even the Doctor and his gift of languages can be hindered slightly," she playfully nudged him in the side, making him grin widely at her compliment, straightening his bowtie rather smugly. She shook her head and turned to give Dor'een a bright, friendly smile, "It's a pleasure, Dor'een".

"She sounds a bit grumpy," the Doctor glanced back to Clara, who was still giggling slightly, "But she's a total love, aren't you?" he cooed as he turned back to Dor'een, leaning forward to tickle her beneath her chin, making her groan in pleasure. The Hatter laughed, understanding cultural customs and greetings of Dor'een's species, but languages had always been the Doctor's area, "Yes, you are," he grinned, speaking as though he would to a Earth dog, before leaning back to look at Clara, "No, actually, she's just asking if we fancy renting a moped. She'll even throw in one with a sidecar, since she likes us," he nudged the Hatter with a smug look, making her shake her head fondly.

Dor'een gave a loud bark and moved off to the side, revealing a large, silver space-bike sitting in an alcove, having been hidden from view by her body. Just as the Doctor had said, it even had a matching side-car sitting parked, unattached, just a foot away from the space-moped. Clara looked at the bike and glanced up at Dor'een, giving her a loud bark. The Time Lords instantly broke into delighted smiles, the Time Lady, for one, was really quite impressed how quickly and how much effort Clara was putting into adapting to travelling, seeing and meeting new species, but as much as it might be a good thing to have in a companion, they couldn't allow themselves to let their guards down, not yet. Dor'een almost seemed to smile back at the girl, giving her an approving bark.

Clara smiled happily, turning back to the Time Lords, "So, how much does it cost?" she asked them, nodding back to the bike.

"Oh, they don't use money here," the Hatter shook her head, giving her a small smile, "Not in the sense that you're used to, anyway. They use objects, usually something uniquely valuable to _you_ , something sentimental".

"A photograph," the Doctor nodded, when Clara looked confused, "Love letter…" he winked at the Hatter, who lightly hit his arm. He merely grinned widely, "…something like that," he continued, turning back to Clara, who crossed her arms across her chest, eyeing him as though she was seriously doubting him, "That's what used for currency here. Psychometry. Objects psychically imprinted with their history. The more treasured they are the more value they hold".

"That's horrible".

"Is it?" the Hatter lifted an eyebrow, "It's far more heart-warming then throwing bits of paper and plastic and gold about the place," she shrugged, understanding where Clara was coming from, but personally, she thought it was a rather interesting, "Personally, I think it's a lot nicer then obsessing over bits of paper or metal, this way everyone has a fairer shot of getting what they want or need, if one is willing to part with an object of enough significance".

Clara considered that briefly, though she still seemed unconvinced, "Then you two pay".

"With what?" the Doctor laughed slightly, as though it was absurd to even think of it. He looked at the Hatter and took her hand again, both knowing that the only thing of any true significance that either them had was each other…and their daughter. Thankfully, even here, trading people wasn't legal, not that it would ever even be an option for a single millisecond.

"You're both a thousand years old," she replied, looking unconcerned, "You must have something you care about," and with that, she turned her back on them and began to wonder away, looking around at the stalls as she past by them.

The Hatter raised an eyebrow thoughtfully, glancing sideways at the Doctor as he slowly pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket, before shaking his head and putting it back, safely, in his inner breast pocket with a slight scoff at the idea of giving it up. The Time Lady smiled, she could think of two things off the top of her head that could likely fall into the sentimental basket, her engagement ring and her necklace, but the thought of giving them up…well, it wasn't worth thinking about it, there was nothing on this planet that she would willing give up either of those utterly priceless objects up for.

The Doctor cast a quick glance over his shoulder towards Clara, who still had her back turned to them, before looking back to the Time Lady, "Shall we, dear?" he murmured to her, squeezing her hand.

She shot a look over her shoulder, too, "Lets," she muttered back, and they swiftly walked away, before Clara had a chance to turn around and see them leave her behind, melting away into the crowded market with little issue, which was rather impressive given how different they looked from the aliens around them.

It had been the plan all along; of course, to see how Clara managed on her own with the hope that she might reveal her true colours should she think that she had possibly been left alone on an alien planet. They needed to see what type of person she was, what made her tick, what mattered to her, what emotions could be triggered from her. The Hatter still found it uncomfortable to think of what they were putting the girl through, when she very well could be completely innocent, but if meant protecting their child, there truly was no limit that they wouldn't push or completely disregard. So, together, the Time Lords carefully moved through the market, allowing Clara a chance to get herself into some trouble or get herself lost, whatever happened first, before tracking her down again. But the Hatter still couldn't help frowning, only half-listening to the Doctor as he began eagerly chattered away to a dark green vendor standing behind a stall covered in more exotic, alien fruit and vegetables.

She felt horribly conflicted by her heart and her logical side, one side of her was screaming at her that she was treating Clara as though she was already guilty, misleading her and luring her into a trap, manipulating her into situations that might try and prove something, while the other part of her said that it was a necessary evil. They needed to know what type of person Clara truly was and just how much she knew, if that meant that they had to hold her at arms length while fooling her into thinking that they were getting closer, then so be it, but it still made her feel a little nauseated with herself. It simply isn't her; perhaps during the Time War she would have been able to do it without feeling the slightest hint of regret, but not this version of her.

"…Hatter? Hatter, what's wrong?"

The Hatter started quite violently as she suddenly became aware of the Doctor peering intently at her, frowning deeply with worry as he waved his hand in front of her face. She blinked, leaning back from his hand as he looked slightly relieved to see her actually come back to reality, though he was still eyeing her carefully.

"Sorry, what was that, sweetheart?" she shook her head, forcing a smile.

He gave her a concerned look, "Never mind," he said, bright green eyes examining her face closely, "What were _you_ thinking about so deeply?"

She sighed, looking away from him, "Clara, of course".

"Of course," he nodded, understanding filling his features.

"I just…I hate this".

"I know. I like it as much as you do, dear, but we don't have a choice…"

"It doesn't make it any better," the Hatter cut across him, her expression grim and her voice flat, feeling a sinking sense of guilt bubbling up inside her, an emotion she was more then used to by now, but it still made her feel sick and dirty. She reached up to adjust her hat, just for something to do with her hands, before she took a deep breath and pushed away her feelings, "Okay, I think that's enough time for Clara to get up to something," she said as she looked back to him, her entire tone and expression shifting, becoming lighter, "But…"

The Doctor gave her a curious look, "But…?"

" _But_ …what if I spoke to her?" she quickly went on, seeing him frowning slightly, opening his mouth to say something, "I know it's not the original plan, but perhaps if I can speak with her, get to know her a little bit from a more personal level, rather than just stalking her from afar…" she grimaced at the thought.

"Hatter," he eyed her for a long moment, not even bothering to conceal how concerned he was. He reached out and lightly touched her cheek, running his thumb across her cheek bone, "You know I always trust your judgment, I trust it more than anyone else's in the Universe, but this is different".

"And I am grateful for your concern, Doctor," she covered his hand, keeping it against her cheek, meeting his eyes firmly, "Truly, I am, but I assure you that I have not been blinded by past memories and feelings, Clara is not my niece, but I know that I can get a feel for her on a level that you can't, sweetheart".

The Doctor really couldn't argue with that, they both knew it, because there was just some things that needed a women's touch and perhaps this was one of those times. He sighed heavily, reluctantly nodding in agreement as he pressed a kiss to her forehead, silently asking her to be careful.

…

It was a rather odd feeling for the Hatter to be wondering through the market place, knowing that the Doctor was likely somewhere close by right now, trailing along in her wake, watching from afar. It was a little disconcerting, really, she suddenly seemed quite aware of how much she swung her hips when she walked. She tried not to allow it to show on her face, smiling to herself as she went, avoiding walking into anyone as she went. She was just wondering how she was supposed to find Clara, when she heard a hiss. Her footsteps faulted and she frowned, thinking she had perhaps misheard…

"Hatter!"

She paused, definitely hearing her name being whispered-shouted from somewhere nearby. She stopped completely and looked around more carefully, when she spotted Clara peering around the corner of a nearby wall, but what was even more surprising was that she wasn't alone. Somewhere along the way she had meet a young girl, possibly ten or eleven years old, with long, wavy blonde hair that was partly hidden beneath a dark red hood, connected to her robes and pale gold dress that reached the floor. The girl looked rather frightened, which instantly caught the Hatter's eye as she quickly hurried over to them, slipping around the corner, hidden from view from those passing by.

"Oh, I'm glad to see you," Clara sighed in relief, giving the Time Lady a smile, "We need help. Well, Merry needs help," she nodded to the girl beside her.

The Hatter gave her a slightly confused look, before turning her attention onto the girl, Merry, who was eyeing her with a wary expression, "Well, I'm always happy to help," she said brightly, smiling at the girl, leaning down so that they were eye level, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Merry. I'm the Hatter and I love helping people, so how can I help you, Merry?"

Merry hesitated, glancing at Clara, who gave her an encouraging nod, "I need to hide," she told the Hatter, turning back to look at the Time Lady.

"I see," she nodded slowly, giving her a gentle smile. Her eyes flickered up to Clara, who was biting her lip, looking slightly nervous, before she turned back to Merry, "Well, good thing I'm very good at hiding," she winked at her, seeing how frightened Merry was…it worried her to see a young girl look that scared, but there would be enough time to find out just why she was so scared after they were somewhere safe, "Clara and I will look after you, Merry, I promise, and I always keep my promises".

"I was taking her to the TARDIS," Clara said as the Hatter straightened.

"Excellent idea," the Time Lady flashed her an approving look, her gaze turning back onto Merry, "Do you want to come with us, Merry?" she asked her, wanting to let her know that she had choice, but the little girl was already nodding hurriedly, looking rather panicked by the idea of being left by herself. The Hatter gave her a reassuring smile, holding out her hand to her, "Okay, let's get somewhere safe, yeah?"

Merry still looked a little unsure of the Hatter, but after a moment she took her extended hand. They had to wait for a couple of aliens to pass by their hiding spot before they could move out into the open, pausing again after a couple of steps to innocently lean against the wall, Clara and the Hatter turning to each other as though they were speaking, while Merry turned towards the wall. Once they had walked past them, though, they were off again, hurrying around the corner and over to where the TARDIS was parked in a small alcove away from the bustle of the market.

"What's this?" Merry asked, eyeing the TARDIS curiously.

"Eh…" Clara glanced over to her, busy checking that no one had followed them, "Space-shippy thing. Timey, spacey…"

"Timey, spacey?" the Hatter laughed, throwing her an amused look as Clara trailed off with an embarrassed look. She shook her head, "You sound like the Doctor…which could be considered to be rather concerning, depending who you ask," she suddenly broke into a wide smile, "But it's called the TARDIS," she explained to Merry, "Time and Relative Dimension in Space".

"It's teeny," Merry stared at the box.

The Time Lady grinned even wider, her eye lighting up knowingly, "Oh, I wouldn't be certain about that," she winked cheekily at the girl.

Clara moved to open the doors, but as she grasped the doorhandle, they refused to budge. She frowned and tried again, shaking them slightly, but they still refused to open for her. The Hatter watched with interest, her eyes flickering between Clara and the TARDIS…That was rather curious, usually the old girl would be just as eager to help as the Time Lords, but yet she was refusing to help Clara? After all, the TARDIS was known to bend her own rules to open without a key, so why was she refusing when Clara tried.

"Oh, _come on_ ," she muttered, trying to doors again, but still they refused to open for her.

"What's wrong?" Merry questioned, watching in confusion.

"I don't know," she stepped back from the doors, frowning deeply as she looked across to the Hatter, who was leaning against the side of the box, looking thoughtful, "I don't think she likes me".

The Hatter gave her a small smile, "Oh, she can be a little fickle," she said lightly, not wishing to alert Clara to just how strange it was that the TARDIS refused to open for her. She carefully kept her smile in place as she pushed off from the box and moved around to the doors, "I'll give it a go, shall I?" she reached out to grasp the doorhandle and tried, only to blink…, "Huh," she stepped back, when the door still stuck firmly shut, eyeing the doors carefully, "Looks like she doesn't want us to go inside. I wonder why…"

She glanced over to Clara from the corner of her eye as she thought, knowing that the TARDIS certainly would never keep her or the Doctor out, not without a pretty good reason, but right now she couldn't imagine what that reason might be. She reached out again and lightly pressed her palm flat on the surface of the door, feeling a gentle hum vibrate through her flesh. If she didn't know better, she would almost say the old girl was apologising to her, though the Doctor would know for certain, given his connection to the time machine. She briefly considered simply using her key and forcing her way inside, but something told her not to, if the TARDIS didn't want to let them in on her own accord, forcing her to let them in might be unwise. Trying to hide her thoughts, she flashed Clara a teasing smile.

"I guess she really doesn't like you after all, Clara," she reached out and playfully nudged Clara's side, making the other girl smile slightly embarrassedly and shoot the time machine a mildly annoyed look. The Hatter laughed and turned back towards Merry…only to just catch her slipping around the side of the TARDIS, disappearing from sight, "Merry?" she frowned, concerned.

"Hey!" Clara called quietly, catching sight of the girl slipping away. Both women moved to peer around the edge of the box, "Hey, little girl…"

Merry ducked her head back around the corner, looking back to them, "My name's Merry".

"Of course it is," the Hatter gave her a bright smile, "And it really is such a lovely name. Very cheerful, I like that," she said as she squeezed herself around the side of the time machine and to the back, where Merry was sitting, looking frightened. Her smile softened as she dropped down onto the floor next to her, ignoring the dirt as she did so, while Clara followed her, "So…" she eyed her gently, "You know, it's okay to tell us what's going on, Merry. Is someone trying to hurt you, is that why you're so scared?"

"No," Merry shook her head, sighing, "I'm just…scared".

"Of what?" Clara asked, sinking down to crouch next to the Hatter, slightly more mindful of her own clothing then the Time Lady.

"Getting it wrong".

The Hatter blinked slightly, feeling as though she was completely missing something right now. Judging by the blank expression on Clara's face, she wasn't the only one, though it was rather refreshing. She eyed Merry more carefully, what was she missing here? Was it the curious robes? It _had_ to be, right? Kids didn't usually wear robes…well; non-Gallifreyan children didn't tend to, from her experience, not unless they were a part of some sort of group or order…

"Okay," Clara smiled slightly at Merry, "Can you pretend like I'm totally a space alien and explain?"

Merry sighed slightly, looking as though she wasn't sure how to explain it, when it was clear that it was something that she was simply used to being unnecessary to explain, "I'm Merry Gajelh," she said, as though that ought to be enough.

" _Really_ not local. Sorry".

"The Queen of Years…?"

"Oh!" the Hatter exclaimed, her eyes widening in realisation. Clara and Merry both looked at her, startled, but she barely seemed to notice as she stared at Merry, "Of course, it makes sense now…"

"Um, Hatter?" Clara looked at her pointedly.

She glanced at her and gave her an amused look, before focusing back onto Merry, "The Queen of Years is a…vessel of history," she explained for Clara's benefit, eyeing Merry with an almost sad, sympathetic look in her hazel green eyes, "A child is picked when the last Queen of Years dies, Clara, and taken away from their family to be raised under the guidance of tutors, if you will. They learn every chronicle and poem of their people, every legend, every song…"

She trailed off, feeling her hearts breaking for the young girl sitting beside her, knowing well enough just how horrible such a childhood of duty and expectation was. She could see herself in Merry, her own story similar to the young girl's, both had been chosen as infants to be something greater, both had suffered under that pressure, and both had felt the suffocating weight of having millions of people expecting something from you that you yourself can't possibly know that you are capable of providing for them. It was not a childhood that anyone would envy, but in a way the Hatter's childhood had been far better than poor Merry's, she had meet and befriended the Doctor early enough in her young life to not be drowned and pulled down under the weight of the expectations of her people and her parents. If it hadn't been for him, what sort of life would have lived? Certainly not a better one.

"Every single one?" Clara blinked, her eyes widening as she stared at Merry, who nodded in confirmation, "Blimey," she breathed, shaking her, "I hated history".

"And now I have to sing in front of everyone," Merry told them in a fearful whisper, "A special song. I have to sing it to a god. And I'm really scared".

"That's okay," the Hatter smiled gently, lightly nudging her arm, giving her a kind look, "Being scared isn't a bad thing, Merry, being scared can be _good_. Fear makes us courageous, stronger, faster, but _only_ if we fight back against it".

"She's right, Merry," Clara nodded, looking a little sad, "Everyone's scared when you're little. I used to be terrified of getting lost. Used to have nightmares about it. And then I got lost…" the Hatter watched her from the corner of her eye, knowing the story from her and the Doctor's time stalking Clara's time stream, "Blackpool beach, Bank holiday Monday, about ten billion people. I was about six. My worst nightmare come true".

"What happened?" Merry asked, listening intently.

"The world ended. My heart broke…" she broke into a wide smile, her eyes lighting up with the memory, "And then my mum found me. We had fish and chips, and she drove me home and tucked me up and told me a story…" she trailed off, her eyes growing distant.

"And you were never scared again?"

"Oh, I was scared _lots_ of times," she told her, while the Hatter looked between them, curious to watch Clara interacting with the little girl, "But never of being lost," she smiled again, which made Merry smile, too, looking calmer then she had since they first crossed paths with her. She leaned closer to her, lifting an eyebrow, "So, this special song. What are you scared of, exactly?"

Her smile dimmed at that, replaced with a slightly nervous expression, "Getting it wrong," she murmured, "Making Grandfather angry".

"Well, _that_ won't happen," the Hatter said confidently, flashing her a bright, positive smile. She reached out and lightly touched her shoulder, ducking her head slightly, trying to make them more level with each other as she met her light brown eyes, her voice growing softer, firmer, "Merry, _everyone_ doubts themselves, every single day _I_ doubt _myself_. I doubt myself over whether or not I'm being a good mother, I doubt myself if I'm a good friend or even a good person, but I never let that doubt consume me to the point that it stops me, because you are capable of everything and anything, Merry Gejelh," she lightly squeezed her shoulder, her smile softening, "You won't get it wrong, Merry, I promise, just…trust in yourself, be brave and strong, like we _know_ you are, and you can do _anything_ you set your mind on".

"Do you think you can do that, Merry?" Clara asked her, giving her an encouraging smile.

Merry broke into a wide smile, her entire face lighting up with relief and happiness, throwing her arms around the Hatter first, since she was closest, before turning to throw her arms around Clara, who laughed and rubbed her on the back, catching the Time Lady's eyes over Merry's shoulder. They exchanged a happy look, before Clara and Merry separated, the little girl looking more childlike and free than ever before, as though a massive weight had been lifted from her shoulders. It warmed the Hatter to see it, smiling softly at the sight.

"You know," Clara lifted her eyebrows at Merry, "I think it's time we stop hiding, don't you think, Merry?"

The little girl took a deep breath, before nodding, "Okay".

The Hatter gave her a proud smile and climbed onto her feet, seemingly utterly unconcerned by the dirt on her clothing as Clara took Merry's hand and began to lead the way out from around the TARDIS. The Time Lady fell into step with them, ideally wondering where the Doctor had gotten himself during their little detour as they began to walk through the market, when Clara and Merry suddenly stopped. She followed their gazes, finding two men, dressed similar to Merry, seeming to be arguing with each other a short distance away, but when they turned and spotted Merry, they instantly stopped and began to move towards them, relief blooming across their features. Merry hesitated as Clara lightly nudged her towards them, glancing nervously back to Clara and the Hatter.

"Don't doubt yourself, Merry," the Hatter reminded her, giving her an encouraging smile, "You can do it, Clara and I believe in you".

Merry gave her a small smile and seemed to lift her chin a bit higher, before turning and walking to meet the two men. She threw another quick look over her shoulder to Clara and the Hatter, both women giving her encouraging looks, before turning back to the men, pulling her hood back to reveal a golden tiara. One of the men placed a string of white and yellow flowers over her head, draping it around her shoulders as they nodded to her and began to led her away…Merry looked back over her shoulder to them one last time, before she was led out of sight.

"She'll be okay," the Hatter said to Clara, though she wondered if she said it more for her own benefit, then for Clara's, sighing slightly at the thought of such a young girl, having so much pressure placed upon her at such a tender age. She was still looking off to where Merry had just gone, when she sensed, rather than saw, the Doctor casually appear next to her, as though he hadn't been following them from afar. She glanced at him and shook her head fondly, finding him happily eating one of the curious blue fruit, "Enjoying yourself, sweetheart?"

"I am now that I've found you, dear," he replied instantly, flashing her a cheeky grin. She couldn't help laughing at his rather smooth reply, no doubt having spent the past ten minutes coming up with it, but she decided not to tease him for it, given how amusing it was. He lifted an eyebrow, giving both women a knowing look, "What have you been doing?" he lifted the fruit up to his lips, taking another bite.

Clara caught the Hatter's eye and smiled mysteriously, "Exploring," she said with a slight shrug, glancing at the Doctor.

He nodded, as though he didn't know exactly what had been going on, and reached out to take the Hatter's hand, absently chewing his mouthful of fruit. He turned and began to walk away, the Time Lady happily letting him lead her. The show ought to be starting soon, in fact they would likely be a little late, seats probably started filling up from the early morning.

"Come along, Clara," she called back over her shoulder, realising that the girl hadn't fallen into step with them.

"Where are we going?" Clara questioned, sounding confused, though she quickly hurried to catch up to them.

The Doctor and the Hatter exchanged knowing looks, pretending not to hear her as they continued on their way. It would be better for her to see for herself.

….

The amphitheatre truly was packed by the time the Time Lords and Clara managed to find the correct entrance, running inside, through a short passageway that opened up into the massive, open space. Merry was already there, standing on a golden pedestal on the edge of the asteroid, which looked out onto the pyramid and the small rocks that floated between them and it. It was a little embarrassing to realise that tens of thousands, possibly even millions, of eyes were looking down upon them from the rows and rows of seats, filled with different alien species, the air utterly silent and still. The Hatter almost wanted to cringe as the Doctor accidently skidded across the dirt ground, the sound sounding horribly loud in the silence.

"Shh, shh," the Doctor hushed himself, the back of his neck colouring very slightly as he caught the Hatter's eye, noticing her wincing very slightly, "Eh, sorry, dear, sorry…"

"Just…" she sighed, her voice barely above a whisper, "Let's just sit down, please".

He eagerly nodded and let her pull him over towards the stairs leading up the rows of seats, the Time Lady catching sight of three seats, thankfully empty, just a little ways up from the bottom rows, making straight for them, squeezing her way into the row, which was just as packed as the rest of the amphitheatre.

"Sorry," she muttered as she stepped over people's legs and feet, "Sorry, so sorry…"

"Excuse me," the Doctor was whispering behind her, almost tripping over one alien's very heavy and large boot, making the alien grumble in annoyance, "Sorry. Excuse me…"

"Sorry," Clara said hastily, as more grumbles sprung up amongst the row, "Sorry".

The Hatter practically collapsed into her chair as they finally reached the small, empty section, which just had to be in the middle of the row, because having it at the end would have been so simple, wouldn't it? She smiled faintly at the Doctor as he dropped into the seat next to her, their entwined hands resting on the armrest between them as he gave her a wide smile. They were both rather excited to see the ceremony for themselves, after both having read about it. Clara took her seat on the other side of the Doctor and cleared her throat, glancing at the alien next to her, who gave a slight grunt, before quickly leaning towards the Time Lords.

"Are we even supposed to be here?" she whispered to them, concerned.

"Shh," the Hatter hushed her, giving her a little wink, before sitting more comfortably in her chair, crossing her legs.

She frowned, "But are we?"

"Shh!" the Doctor hissed, slightly louder then he meant too, earning a low groan of annoyance from one of the aliens around them. He winced slightly, "Sorry," he hastily apologised softly, before catching the Hatter's eye and smiling at her…she simply shook her head at him, reluctantly amused.

They turned their attention back onto the front where Merry was still standing, silence falling over them all. Merry nervously glanced back over her shoulder to them, looking directly at the Hatter, who gave her an encouraging smile, before focusing on Clara. Clara gave her a gentle smile and nodded to her, and Merry smiled very slightly, looking more determined as she turned back around, staring out at the golden pyramid in the distance.

And then…she began to sing.

"Akhaten…" her voice was so beautiful, it took the Hatter's breathe way, singing slowly and so melodiously, it put to shame most grown professional singers in the twenty-first century, "Oh, god of Akhaten…"

In the distance, the sound of another voice mingled with Marry's own harmony, complimenting it with his own lyrics. The male singer was but a mere speck from where they were sitting, walking out through a door within the base of the pyramid that had slide open as the song had begun, his hands held out on either side of himself. The Hatter couldn't take her eyes off the performance, finding herself utterly enchanted by how beautiful it was, her hearts warming as the song continued. She even felt a little emotional, which she made her fear she might even cry, but she found herself growing less concerned about that the more the song went on.

"They're singing to the Mummy in the Temple," the Doctor was saying quietly, and the Hatter almost jumped at the sound of his soft tone, glancing at him to see him looking at one of the leaflets they had been given on their way into the amphitheatre, Amy's old glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, "They call it the Old God," he glanced back down at the leaflet, "Sometimes Grandfather".

"…Oh, god of Akhaten…"

"What are they singing?" Clara asked in a whisper, glancing at the Doctor. The Hatter, curious, glancing at him, too. She knew some basic information about the ceremony, understood some of the customs, but much of it was still quite new to her, something that one could only learn from visiting.

He smiled slightly, looking between them, "The Long Song," he informed them, glancing briefly down at the leaflet, "A lullaby without end to feed the Old God. Keep him asleep," he looked back up to the girls, "It's been going for millions of years, chorister handing over to chorister, generation after generation after generation".

"…Akhaten…"

The Hatter smiled softly, this was one of the reasons for why she had longed to travel the Universe, to learn about other planets and cultures, to see and experience it outside of a book or classroom, and even now, after all these centuries, she was still learning, still experiencing new things. She loved it. She pulled her gaze off Merry as she looked around, seeing that everyone around them had lifted their hands up into the air, holding objects in them, some food, some jewels, some even held up flowers.

Clara seemed to have noticed, too, looking around curiously, "What are they doing?" she turned back to the Time Lords.

"Offerings, I expect," the Time Lady said quietly, casting her eyes around at everyone holding up their items, "This is their God, after all…" she turned back to Clara, keeping her voice low, "I imagine they use them to perhaps feed the Old God. Gifts and objects of sentiment can hold great power, Clara…See?" she broke into a smile, gesturing around them.

All around them, the offered objects began to dissolve into specks of golden light, almost like dust as it drifted into the air, moving as one towards the sun. It was actually quite a lovely sight, Clara giggled as she looked around, watching it with wonder written across her features.

"Oh, god of…" Merry continued singing, looking around at the light, "Oh, god of…oh, god of Akhaten…"

All around them, others began to join with the singing, some merely humming along, swaying gently in their seats, while others sang the lyrics softly, filling the air with song. The Hatter smiled widely, her hearts lifting with warmth and lightness…she never could resist a good sing-along, humming along with the tune. The Doctor looked at her and broke into a gentle smile, squeezing her hand.

"Lay…" he began, only to stop quickly, looking around slightly in embarrassment, realising he had started the next verse to soon.

The Hatter smiled at him, humming the tune, until…, "Lay down…" she began to gently sing, her own voice a poor attempt in comparison to Merry's voice, but the Doctor only seemed to smile in pure delight, looking at her as though she was the best thing he had ever heard, "…my warrior…" they sang together, their own voices mingling with the others around them.

"Akhaten…" Merry's voice sounded loudly over them all, "Oh, god of, oh god of, oh god of…oh, god of Akhaten…"

Suddenly, the other, distance singers voice stopped and Merry seemed to trail off. The Hatter frowned deeply, her own singing falling off as she looked sharply across to the pyramid, hearing a low, rumbling noise coming from the pyramid. Something was wrong, something was very, very wrong, she could feel it in the air as all the warmth and lightness seemed to be completely drained away in an instance and Merry whirled around with a fearful gasp, looking frantically up towards all the rows of people. Everyone else seemed to have trailed off in their own singing, looking around quickly…when, suddenly, a beam of light flew out of the pyramid and hit Merry, surrounding her as she was lifted up off the pedestal and into the air.

"Okay," Clara frowned deeply, staring worriedly at Merry, "What's happening? Is that supposed to happen?"

"Help!" Merry cried, desperately trying to kick and fight against the beam of light that surrounded her. The Hatter swallowed, hard, feeling her hearts racing, if she had thought that Merry had looked frightened before, she looked downright terrified now.

"No, Clara," she breathed, her eyes wide, "I don't think it is supposed to happen, not in the slightest".

"Is somebody going to do something?" Clara looked around urgently, turning around in her seat to look at one of the aliens sitting behind them, "Excuse me, is somebody going to help her?"

The Doctor and the Hatter looked at each other, leaping out of their seats as they practically flew out of their row, caring little for accidently stepping on anyone's feet as they went, dashing down the stairs, just as Merry was pulled away from the edge of the amphitheatre. They couldn't stop her from being taken by the beam, not from this position, but they damn well could follow her and try to save her from being taken by another means.

 _ **So, it's been a while, hasn't it? I feel so horrible for the wait, life has been very, very stressful the past several weeks, I began my medications part of my course and that's been hell, maths is my worst subject ever, I also have placement coming up on the 28**_ _ **th**_ _ **, which I am trying to prepare for, and my sister got a new poodle puppy and I've been babysitting him four days a week while she's at work, so trying to find the time to write as been a bit tricky. Plus, trying to write while you're stressed isn't conducive to productive writing. But we've got the chapter, finally.**_

 _ **I really do feel like the Hatter would see a lot of herself in Merry, I feel like she would feel sorry for her and understand that pressure better than anyone else, which is why I really wanted the Hatter to interact with Merry when things were a little less dangerous. But at the same time, I tried not to take away from Clara, since I thought it was a sweet scene between her and Merry…I hope I succeeded.**_

 _ **Please tell me what you thought, please review :)**_

 _ **Guest reviews:**_

 _ **Sam Fraser:**_ _ **I guess 'The Name of The Doctor' could have easily have been the fiftieth anniversary special, I could see the whole plot line working for it, just drawn out slightly longer, adding perhaps more screen time for the other characters and past Doctors. As much as I did love the fiftieth special, I did wish they had included more of the past Doctors in it, even just the ones who still left alive I'm sure they would have been happy to come back and play a proper role in the episode. And yes, they could have also revealed that the Doctor had a War counterpart we hadn't seen before, who then could have had his story played out throughout the episode. But I understand why they did it the way that they did.**_

 _ **Guest:**_ _ **And I think that's a very good way of looking at it. Even now, Hartnell is still leaving his mark on fans, new and old. I hope he would have been proud of his legacy.**_


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